


The Courage of Stars

by derryhawkins



Series: Amateurs at War [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Bonding with the Lions, Coran thinks Lance being his favorite is a secret but it’s not lmao, Cuban Lance (Voltron), Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Fluff and Angst, Gay Keith (Voltron), Gen, Homesick Lance (Voltron), Hunk & Lance (Voltron) Friendship, Hunk (Voltron) Has Anxiety, Hunk (Voltron) is so Pure, Insecure Lance (Voltron), Japanese Keith (Voltron), Lance (Voltron) Speaks Spanish, M/M, Pining Lance (Voltron), Pre-Relationship, Sentient Voltron Lions, Space Dad Shiro (Voltron), Trans Female Pidge | Katie Holt, allura’s kinda bitch ngl but there’s a reason why, hunk: not on my watch u dont, im bullshitting the science stuff just fyi, i’ll add tags as the fic goes on, lance: tries to keep a secret from hunk, like. very sentient, multiple Serious Talks With Hunk, no beta we die like dumbasses, oh & i gave lance a little sister, shes not That important in this fic but she’s still mentioned, they can become actual lions in this fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-18
Updated: 2020-12-08
Packaged: 2021-03-07 16:28:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 29,709
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26520673
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/derryhawkins/pseuds/derryhawkins
Summary: The Lions of Voltron can turn into actual lions. Who knew, right? When Allura tells them of this news, Lance is ecstatic. The only problem? Lance figures out that he somehow has one of the strongest bonds with Blue. To keep the others from feeling bad about their own progress, he keeps this information to himself.It doesn’t take long for certain others to think he’s not taking everything seriously.
Relationships: Allura & Coran & Hunk & Keith & Lance & Pidge | Katie Holt & Shiro, Keith/Lance (Voltron), Lance & Blue Lion (Voltron), Lance & Voltron Paladins
Series: Amateurs at War [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1928584
Comments: 64
Kudos: 341





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> me: lmao what if the robot lions were actually lions  
> my brain: ....u could write that ykno  
> me, opening google docs: already on it 
> 
> ok so! to start this off: i’ve only watched 2 seasons of v:ld – and i haven’t even watched the last 2 episodes of S2 bc i’m stubborn and refuse to witness shiro disappearing and thace dying. with that said: i know a lot about what happens in the later seasons thanks to various fics & such (clones, allura dying, that douche lotor that i think is just a bad knockoff version of loki, KOSMO!!!, Buff Keith, lance getting treated like shit, etc). will all of that be relevant to this? not in this fic, considering it’s a canon divergence from either S1 or S2. after that, who tf knows? not me! also, i am turning this into a ~series~ of sorts since this particular fic mainly is just focused on the paladins bonding with the lions, and i have other ideas where they actually, y’know, fight and shit. this has been in my google docs since the start of the pandemic, so, yeah, i’ve got some ideas i can hopefully write out! 
> 
> also i update slowly, just a warning!!! AND this is my first voltron fic, so if anyone seems out of character i’m so sorry lmao. i’m still figuring these kiddos out
> 
> anyways, hope u guys enjoy the fic!! (btw: fic title taken from the lyrics of ‘saturn’ by sleeping at last & series title taken from the lyrics of ‘mars’ by sleeping at last)

The first time it happens, he is nearly completely out of it. Body sore and aching, his back doesn’t feel right, sight out of focus, ears ringing – the whole shebang after going through an explosion. After jumping in front of Coran, an alien he’s known for two days _at the most_ , the Blue Paladin doesn’t exactly expect to wake up so soon. But he does; not completely, but enough to notice things and feel the pain and recognize that the others are in the middle of a fight – and a small head nudging his hand.

It's furry. It’s blue. And the shape vaguely resembles a small house cat, maybe a kitten, but Lance isn’t quite so sure, and it obviously wants him to wake up – to _move_. He just doesn't know why. Still he does, or tries to. But he’s still in a lot of pain. The blue...thing, kitten, whatever nudges his hand to his side, and apparently that’s enough to activate his bayard because suddenly the gun is in one hand. 

The fighting is getting louder, more intense, or maybe it’s been intense and he’s just regaining more consciousness, he can’t exactly tell and it’s confusing him a bit. Either way, the Blue Lion’s presence is suddenly full force in his mind. It’s enough for Lance to grab the gun properly, and to realize that _oh, fuck, some Galra is choking Pidge_ and someone needs to help but everyone else is too busy doing something else. Lance doesn’t hesitate after that. He weakly holds his weapon correctly and eyes the weird looking arm that’s holding his teammate. He aims, he fires, he doesn’t miss, he’s pretty sure he smirks, but then Blue is retreating and moving like that seriously hurts his back so he drops the gun and slouches once again. 

The blue kitten or whatever is gone by the time Keith comes over, gripping one of Lance’s hands to keep him upright. Lance is pretty positive they have a short conversation. 

Then, everything goes dark again. 

When he wakes up and exits the pod, the only thing he remembers is a weird, tiny blue and furry blob, the familiar grip of his gun, and someone calling him Sharpshooter right before he gets into the pod. 

Lance doesn’t exactly think of it after that. It feels almost like a dream, something that didn’t happen except for the fact that it did and he just can’t remember the fine, definite details.

So, he just ignores those fuzzy memories. In fact, he completely forgets them – not what led up to it, though; the scar on his back is enough to remind him what happened every time he changes clothes or takes a shower. Even when he sees something blue out of the corner of his eyes walking beside him, or feels a rather large yet comforting presence beside him in his bed at night when he’s close enough to sleep to not question much of anything/when he’s too homesick to care, or when he feels a swat at his legs during a fight as something tries to warn him of danger that’s his way. (He doesn’t know how he knows that it’s warning him, but he doesn’t think much of it because, hey, it’s most likely one of the other Paladins, right?)

Lance only really starts to question it all when he walks into the lounge room around what should be three in the morning, only to see their team leader passed out on the floor with a very, _very_ large lion curled around him as it sleeps as well. It’s black and white with primary colored accents – exactly like the robot lion Shiro pilots – and Lance can’t exactly estimate the exact size of the thing since it’s curled up, but _still_. It’s huge. Very big. And scary. A very gigantic and very real and very terrifying sleeping lion. He thinks that at least it isn’t as big as the robot lions.

Lance freezes instantly. He even holds his breath for a few seconds. Then, slowly he lets the air out and shifts his feet to leave and rush back to his room. 

Maybe it’s just a dream. Maybe he got knocked out or something, and this is his way of coping somehow while everyone gets him into a healing pod. Maybe it’s a hallucination. 

Just as he shifts his foot towards the door, though, the lion’s ears perk up. Lance freezes once again as it’s eyes start to open, and tenses when it lifts it’s head and stares right at him. Warm golden eyes lock in on him, and the Blue Paladin starts to wonder if he should be worried for Shiro. That thought goes away just as quickly as it comes, yet Lance’s fear of possibly being attacked by an actual lion stays. 

The lion stares him down as if judging him, sizing the paladin up, estimating the threat. It – she? he? – then does what looks like should be a shrug and lays back down, less tense than before, and the golden eyes close lazily. Lance has half a mind to be offended because, _excuse you_ , he can be a very big threat, _thank you very much_. Just ask the many Galra he’s killed so far. 

(And that almost sends him spiraling, because he has yet to fully acknowledge that he’s killing, that he’s in a war, that he went on a solo mission earlier that day and got back two hours ago; and the reason he came to the lounge room in the first place was to _not_ think about that).

He doesn’t say that sassy remark out loud, of course, because he doesn’t want to wake up Shiro who’s actually sleeping for once, and he certainly doesn’t want to wake up the giant lion curled around him for a second time. Instead, Lance gives a quiet indignant huff and finally leaves, not so scared anymore. The feeling is more like a respectable, healthy fear. Something similar to how he feels towards Veronica. (Older sisters are scary when they want to be, okay?)

The rest of the night, Lance wanders the halls of the castle before coming up to a small observatory on one of the top levels of the castle. He sits there, watches the stars go by, and eventually lets himself cry. Because while Shiro’s lion being an actual lion is fear inducing, it’s not terrifying.

What’s terrifying is being in a war and being one-fifth of the universe’s only hope for freedom. The realization of what he’s doing finally catches up to him, and some homesickness wiggles into the mix about half-way through his crisis on killing some Galra. Not a lot, since most are sentries, but there have still been some real life purple aliens he’s had to take down – during this previous solo mission, especially.

At some point, once he calms down, Lance falls asleep in that room. He’s exhausted from the mission and from the crying, and he’s too lazy to find his way back to his room. It’s uncomfortable at first, laying on the floor. So much so that Lance starts to think about dragging himself to his room. Half a second after that thought forms, the door to the observatory opens and shuts. Heavy yet quiet steps send soft vibrations through the floor to Lance’s body, and a large figure looms over him before it settles literally on top of the boy.

Lance tiredly chuckles. The weight feels nice; like a weighted blanket, except not, because this one is breathing, and living, and a lion. “Hey, Baby Blue,” he greets, because after seeing Black it just makes sense now, and instantly he gets a large, rough tongue licking his face. The lion starts to purr; which is weird, because Lance is pretty sure he learned sometime in school that lions can’t, for whatever reason (something to do with the vocal cords or something), but then again should he really compare a space lion to an Earth lion? Probably not.

Lance finally relaxes. He’s finally _comfortable_ , and so he cuddles up to Blue’s leg and falls asleep with ease.

+++

Lance is, unfortunately, rudely woken up.

Okay, that’s an exaggeration, but having a giant lion gently swat at you and nudge you isn’t the most pleasant way to come back to the land of the living. Lance groans and rolls what is hopefully away from Blue. If it is, she follows, and nudges Lance with her nose again.

Again, he groans, face pressed into the smooth, cool surface of the floor. “M’up, awake- I’m awake! Blue, _what-_!” Suddenly, he’s wide awake and not willingly, no siree. It’s because Blue decides to pick him up by his shirt with her teeth, carefully dangling her Paladin in the air. He can feel her amusement and he doesn’t appreciate it one bit. The only thing he’s appreciative of is the fact that as a lion, Blue isn’t as tall as the robot ship. Certainly bigger than an Earth lion, but still.

_You are a heavy sleeper._

Lance huffs. He doesn’t say anything back, solely because his brain is still half asleep and he can’t figure out how to properly respond to that. Blue lowers him back down. She doesn’t release his shirt until his feet are planted solidly on the ground with Lance standing up with ease. 

“Thanks, Blue,” he mumbles. “Why’d you wake me up anyway? I don’t hear the alar– oh, God, what if the alarms don’t work in this area? Is Voltron needed?! _Blue_! Baby Blue, why didn’t you say anything!”

Now wide awake and exceptionally worried, Lance hurries to run out of the small observatory. Blue quickly moves in front of her Paladin, causing him to get a mouthful of white and blue fur, He sputters as he tries to get the fur off of his tongue while he backs up from shock. While he does that, the lion lets him know he can relax – nothing is wrong, everything and everyone is, for now at least, safe and sound, and the castle currently isn’t being attacked by the Galra Empire. Lance currently has no reason to worry.

Lance wipes his tongue with the sleeve of his nightshirt to better rid the fur that’s too stubborn to leave. “Nearly gave me a heart attack there,” he mutters, slightly bitter but overall relieved. He then voluntarily faceplants Blue’s chest and hums, his half asleep state returning. Absentmindedly, he lifts his arms to hug her, and his fingers mess with the fur in a comforting manner. 

Somehow, it feels like… Like _home_. 

It takes him a moment to notice, to recognize why. It’s not until he takes a deep, content breath in through his nose when the smell clicks into place. He buries his face deeper into his lion’s chest at the sudden bout of emotions whirling inside of him, and his grip tightens on the riffs of fur, though Blue doesn’t seem to mind. 

Strong yet fresh, briny, rich, musty… Just pure oceanic smells. 

Of course the Blue Lion, the Guardian Spirit of Water, smells like the ocean. Lance gives a watery chuckle at that. 

Then, suddenly, Blue tilts her head down and promptly licks the top of his head. Bedhead now worse (he doesn’t need to look in a mirror to know that), Lance figures that he should step away and head down for breakfast. He faintly remembers Hunk demanding a team breakfast for a food surprise before his solo mission, and Lance is in no way going to miss whatever his best friend managed to make. Only, Blue licks his head and hair again. And again. And then she rubs part of her face atop his head, just messing up his hair even more, and Lance doesn’t bother to hold back his laughter. 

“O- Okay! Blue, you love me, I love you, but _seriously_ , girl, I’m hungry!” He lifts his hands and places them on her nose as she leans down again. “Gotta support my best bud’s cooking, yanno, and that means getting to this mandatory team breakfast get together on time.”

Blue huffs. 

“Yes, I wanna stay here and bond too, but best friend duties call!” Lance grins up at her, bright and yellow and warm eyes meeting his blue ones. “Can’t let Yellow’s Paladin down, can we?” She gives him a low, affirming rumble. “That’s what I thought.”

It doesn’t take long after that to actually leave the room. Blue more or less leads the way, since Lance barely remembers the walk there from last night. She even offers to let him ride on her back. Lance almost accepts, though walking is waking him up slowly but surely, and he knows if he gets on his Lion he will promptly pass out. When they get to the lower level where the kitchen and dining area is, Blue licks the side of his face and head once more, the tongue rough and slightly uncomfortable, and then she leaves him to make the rest of the shirt journey alone.

Lance rubs at his eyes. For a split second he wonders if he hallucinated the past 24 hours, up until Blue is in his mind calling him an idiot for thinking that and suddenly his doubts are washed away. He sighs, content, and walks into the dining room.

“About time you showed up, Coran just left to-,” Pidge falters as her eyes finally take him in. “Dude.”

Lance blinks. Freezes mid-step on his way to take a seat. “What,” he says in the same tone. One eyebrow lifts. Pidge keeps staring. In fact, everyone is (minus Hunk, who’s probably still in the kitchen), and he’s a half a second away from saying, “I know I’m attractive, but please tone down your gazing for later hours in the day,” when Pidge finally speaks again. 

“...That is one nasty case of bedhead,” she finally says. 

Shiro opens his mouth. Shuts it. Opens it again. “It’s…” He trails off, looking confused, but there’s a vague hint of recognition in his eyes. 

“Spiky?” Pidge offers, head tilted.

“Defying gravity,” Keith mutters in contemplation. His dark eyes squint at Lance, and Lance fights off a blush when they make eye contact. 

_Not now, bi feelings_ , Lance chastises his brain.

“A mess,” Allura says. The words aren’t blunt, per se; an observation from someone who is mildly appalled. “Seriously Lance, what did you even dream of last night?” 

Lance tries to answer. 

“Nevermind, I don’t want to know,” she quickly backtracks with a small shake of her head.

Pidge snorts. “Oh, yeah, _please_ don’t answer that now that I think about it.”

Lance sputters. “What the- _ew_ ! Guys, holy fuck,” he stumbles over his words, face hot. “It was a restless night – not _that_ kind of restless, Pidge, you gremlin!” He intends to stop there, because it isn’t a total lie, after all; he did have trouble falling asleep before he wandered about the castle. Of course though, his mouth moves before his brain can catch up. “I mean, that solo mission wasn’t exactly easy, okay, like doing sneaky shit to get you that techy piece from the Galra infested city was fucking stressful.”

And that certainly isn’t a lie either, but after the thankfully short debriefing with Allura and Shiro right after he got back, Lance hadn’t planned on spilling that out with that much anger-ridden fear so soon. He huffs and rolls his eyes and his friends, and plops down into a random seat. He crosses arms over his chest as he slouches, eyeing the pristine white surface of the table. Right now he’s just glad he didn’t admit that he can’t do another solo mission. Being in the field without a teammate to back him up is far too fear inducing. 

Lance hadn’t even been allowed to take Blue.

“Lance–,” someone starts. Shiro, maybe. 

“It’s fine now, though!” He forces himself to perk up, smiling, and lets his arms be a bit looser around himself. “We’re all alive, I got what Pidge needs all by myself like a badass, and Hunk’s surprising us with some food that is no doubt delicious!” 

He’s pretty sure he hears a mumbled, “How the fuck does he do that?” from Keith (which, _same_ , Lance thinks, because even he’s shocked by how easily he can switch emotions and put on an act sometimes, good or not) but Lance mostly ignores the words. 

“Lance,” Shiro starts again – and this is when Lance realizes he interrupted Shiro, of all people, and the Blue Paladin is reminded of his newfound respectful fear of Black and that might as well apply to Black’s Paladin as well – and leans forward on the table. Thankfully though, Shiro doesn’t get to continue. Not because Lance interrupted him this time, no, but because Coran bursted through the doors with a wide grin. 

“Ah! There he is,” Coran exclaims at spotting Lance, who turns in his chair to smile at the Altean man. Coran doesn’t even seem surprised at his hair. “My boy, you certainly are rivaling Number Four’s bedhead this morning, I see. Quite a look, indeed.”

Lance grins wide, then shifts to smirk at Keith. “Rivaling, huh?”

Keith rolls his eyes. “You just _had_ to say it like that, didn’t you, Coran?” he complains, sinking into the back of the chair with annoyance as Pidge snickers. 

“Like what?” Coran asks. 

It’s an act, Lance and everyone can tell, so of course it sends Pidge laughing, and Allura and Shiro smiling, and Lance biting back his own laughter while Keith scowls. 

“My bedhead’s better though, right, Coran?” Lance asks just to see what might happen. 

Coran smiles wide and bright. “I’m afraid I cannot choose favorites among you paladins – a personal rule of mine,” Pidge scoffs and mutters something that sounds like ‘bullshit’, if Shiro’s disapproving Dad Look is anything to go by, “but I will say that it definitely reminds me of a certain Altean animal I once had as a pet when I was a tiny child. It spat acid at me quite a few times.”

Pidge’s laughter has died down but she’s giggling still. Lance stares at Coran, slightly dumbfounded, because he can’t tell if being compared to an extinct animal that spat acid is a good thing or not. Thankfully, Hunk barges in with a cart of plates and drinks, excitedly yelling about pancakes and syrup and suddenly everyone is even more eager to try the Yellow Paladin’s food.

“Pancakes?” Keith asks. “Like, _actual_ pancakes?”

“Obviously not actual pancakes, sadly, and they certainly don’t look like them,” Hunk says and lifts up a plate of obsidian colored circles the size of a CD disc, “but I tried them yesterday and they taste exactly the same! So does the syrup!” He grins, proud, and points to the giant bottle neon pink liquid that is, apparently, maple syrup. 

“Black pancakes and bright pink syrup,” Pidge says. “...I want some.”

“Me too!” Lance exclaims. He even makes grabby hands for the plate currently held by his best friend. “Hunk, buddy, I’m starving here! I’d kill for anything resembling Earth food.” Hunk leans away with a laugh. “Gimme!”

Keith snorts. “You’re a fucking child,” he mutters. Anyone else can spot the vague fondness in his tone, but Lance completely misses it.

Lance rolls his eyes. “Oh, like you aren’t desperate for some pancakes.”

“Never said I wasn’t.” Keith shrugs carelessly, and Lance sticks out his tongue at him. “You’re just proving my point.”

The brunet smirks. “Never said I wasn’t,” he echoes. It gets another scowl from Keith, and if Lance looks close enough he’s pretty sure there’s some hidden amusement. 

But then Hunk is passing out the plates, and Shiro is doing a poor job of explaining pancakes to the Alteans, and Keith interrupts his pseudo-brother-person to explain pancakes better and then says with a smug smile how Hunk’s pancakes remind him of the ones Shiro tried to make one time at two in the morning. It starts a familiar brotherly argument between the two paladins.

A hand pats Lance’s hair down. “Restless night?” Hunk inquires as he sets a plate in front of Lance, who shrugs but still nods. “Nightmares, or…?”

“Just… Couldn’t fall asleep, actually,” Lance tells him. It’s the truth, and even if it hadn’t been, Lance would still tell the truth to Hunk once they got alone time. He’ll just...leave the bit about where he had a small crisis over being in a war alone for the time being.

Hunk smiles, relieved. “That’s good. I know the solo mission had to’ve been tough,” he says. Then he reconsiders his words. “Well not _good_ , good. Y’know? I wish you didn’t have trouble.”

Lance waves a hand carelessly, dismissing the worry emitting from his best friend. “Nothin’ too new about it, buddy, don’t worry.” Neither one of them spot Shiro giving them, mostly Lance, a vaguely worried expression. 

“Oh, my fucking God,” Pidge mumbled through a mouthful of black pancake and bright pink syrup. Her bright hazel eyes are wide behind her glasses, shiny with what Lance assumes as unshed tears. “These actually taste like pancakes. What the fuck. Hunk, you damn genius!”

Shiro goes to say something about her foul language but Keith cuts him off before he can. “Shit. Hunk, what the hell did you do? _How_ the hell?” Keith asks after he swallows, and promptly stuffs his face like Pidge. The reactions cause Lance to grab the syrup and pour some over his own pancakes as Hunk sheepishly gives his thanks to their friends’ reactions. “Can you make these every morning? _Fuck_.”

“Guys, lang-.”

“Taste the damn pancakes, Shiro,” Keith stresses.

Lance lets out a sound way too similar to a moan, but this is the first thing in months that actually tastes like human, Earthly food so he doesn’t care how he sounds at the moment. It’s so fucking amazing. It’s the right amount of fluffy, cooked so perfectly that if they weren’t black, the pancakes would be the beautiful golden brown that they usually are back on Earth. The syrup tastes like maple syrup too, perfectly sweet and maybe not the exact kind his family buys religiously, but nonetheless it tastes how it should. He’s torn between congratulating Hunk on his skills and crying. He sniffles. Damn homesickness. 

“This is so fucking good, man,” Lance forces out, voice wobbly to his own ears.

Shiro nods along as he chews. Before he takes another bite, he clears his throat. “You’ve outdone yourself, Hunk. Reminds me of home.”

“Ah… Just. Pancakes,” Hunk responds awkwardly. And he sounds emotional too as he eats his own plate at his seat.

Pidge sniffles, not unlike how Lance did earlier, though she tries to be discrete about it. She fails. It catches Coran’s attention, as well as Allura’s. The Alteans seem both worried with the sudden lack of enthusiasm, and in awe of how good breakfast tastes.

“Number One is correct, my boy, you’ve out done yourself. These ‘pancakes’ as you call them are terrific,” Coran tells him. “Although, I am suddenly very concerned about the emotional atmosphere. Is everyone alright?”

Shiro sighs and nods. “We’re fine, Coran,” he tells him while the others slowly but determinedly devour the pancakes. “It’s just… Like I said, it reminds me of home. Of Earth. I’m certain the other paladins think so as well. We all just feel a bit homesick all of a sudden.” 

_Understatement of the year_ , Lance thinks. He still felt some homesickness from last night, and some from earlier when the scent of Blue reminded him of Cuba, and now he is currently eating pancakes that actually taste like pancakes. ‘All of a sudden’ is a big understatement.

No one else really says anything after that, though Lance catches sight of Coran’s and Allura’s understanding expressions and he’s thankful neither of them continue on with that conversation. Hunk tries to apologize about it, feeling guilty at how he made everyone feel that way, but they all shoot down the ‘sorry’s quickly and return to filling themselves up with breakfast. Even Lance doesn’t say a word. It earns him a concerned, questioning look from Hunk but he brushes the worry off with ease.

It’s not until everyone is full, lazily slouching in their seats, when Allura speaks up. 

She clears her throat to get everyone’s attention. “I understand that you all must want to get away and do your own thing, but I would like to say something.” The younger four paladins start to groan. “Do not worry, I have no plans for today. Other than what I am about to explain, I want everyone to continue on with how they usually would – training, coding, bonding… Which leads me to this: you all should start bonding with the Lions more.

“I know you already have some what, but there are certain... _levels_ , I guess I could say, to bonding with them. The first one being chosen, of course, and being able to pilot your Lions. Next comes the mindlink, where you should all be at right about now. You can communicate with them through thoughts and feelings, which leads into the next level: having your Lion help you fight even when you are not piloting them.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Wait, _what_?” Pidge sputters out. “How is that possible? Like… The giant robot piloting itself, or…?”

Allura smiles not unkindly. She actually looks a bit pleased at the question, if Lance really thinks about it. “Yes, and no.”

“ _What_.”

“The Lions can maneuver themselves, as we have seen before with Black and Green keeping you and Shiro out of harm’s way when you first came here. And then Red saved Keith when they first bonded. They can certainly help you fight like that, though they mostly only move on their own in their robot forms to protect their paladins the best they can, and to save them – you guys – when the situation is dire.”

Everyone stares at her. The only one who doesn’t look remotely confused is Shiro, and Lance is faking it because he feels like he might be called out if he doesn’t. Don’t get him wrong, he loves the attention, but he doesn’t feel like explaining how he cuddled with an actual lion to sleep last night, and that it probably happened more than once ever since they started this Voltron thing. He just can’t remember the fine details.

“Robot forms,” Hunk says slowly and shares a quick glance with Pidge. “Um. Yeah, what do you mean by that, exactly?”

“The Lions are completely sentient!” Allura explains with a grin. “Not partially, as you seem to believe. They have thoughts and feelings and personalities, and physical forms as well. It all deals with quintessence. At a certain point, you and your Lion are bonded enough to communicate no matter how far apart. Your quintessence becomes intertwined.

“Each Lion has a physical form thanks to the quintessence as well, but they only come out as such once the bonds with their respective paladin is essentially unbreakable. Because of both of these things, the Lions are able to aid you in battle. Both in your mind, and as a physical being at your side fighting alongside you.”

“Actual lions?” Keith questions. “Real, living, breathing _lions_?”

“Precisely!” Coran exclaims, and Allura nods with a wide, excited grin. “They can shift sizes, as well. It’s quite a sight, if I do say so myself.”

At that, Lance suddenly perks up and slams his hands on the table. “You’ve _seen_ them?”

“Why, my boy, of course I have! Though, they only show themselves to ones who are not the paladins once every paladin can see each Lion.”

Lance blinks, stunned. “Holy shit.”

“The only exception is Allura, considering she is connected to them as well.”

“I am so confused and kind of terrified but really excited,” Hunk admitted under his breath.

“I am mentioning this because I believe you will all be revealed of your Lions’ physical forms soon, and when that happens you will need to start training with them as well,” Allura explains. “Never stop bonding with them, however, no matter how strong your bonds get. That includes with one another, paladins.”

And then they’re dismissed, free to do whatever they want. 

The four youngest race to their Lions. Well, Keith, Pidge and Hunk do; Lance runs back to the observatory he found the night before, and smiles widely at seeing Blue there already. Excited thrums through him and Lance spreads his arms out wide. 

“Time to bond, Baby Blue!”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hunk and Lance hang out at the shooting range, Pidge is sleep deprived, and they learn a tiny bit of information on the Paladins before them.

The next few days following Allura’s reveal about the Lions is jam packed with the Paladins getting more and more information out of the Alteans regarding the Lion-Paladin bonds. Pidge all but bombarded them the following day, questions rolling off the young girl’s tongue so rapidly that for once in Lance’s life he couldn’t get a word in edgewise. For once, Keith has to tell someone else, “Shut up,” with that vague sense of annoyance. The difference is that Pidge had dutifully ignored her fellow team mate, while Lance would have actually said something back at Keith and bickering would ensue. And as fun as _that_ is, watching Keith become slightly offended that those two words didn’t work on Pidge had Lance hiding his laughter.

Once they get Pidge calm, though, Allura and Coran answer all they are able to at that time (re: the questions that they actually heard properly). 

Can the Lions of Voltron die? No one’s sure about that. Coran tells them that there are theories, but nothing has ever been confirmed. How big can they get? The size of a regular Altean lion. (“And how tall is that, exactly?” – “Well the tallest recorded lion on Altea was nine and a half flooshes tall!” – “...That doesn’t– okay.”) Do they need to eat? No. But they can, if they want. Hunk gets excited at that, and shouts about kitty treats. How do the paladins know how strong their bonds are with their Lions? The size of the lion, apparently. They start as a small lion cub, and gradually grow into their full size as the bond strengthens. 

Other than learning more and more about the Paladin-Lion bonds, the Voltron team has spent their down time training, hanging out, or spending quality time with their respective Lions. Except for Pidge. Lance notices that her down time consisted of decrypting that bit of tech he got from his solo mission. None of them really knows what might be on it, though they all have theories. Some logical, some not. Lance personally thinks it might be a list of planets the Galra have yet to conquer, but that got shut down instantly yesterday by Allura and Keith, both agreeing that if there is a list Zarkon wouldn’t let it be so out of reach and explaining that in such a way that Lance kinda felt stupid afterwards. Which...yeah, point taken, but they could’ve been _nicer_ about it. Geez.

Lance pushes those thoughts away and runs a hand through his hair with one hand. His other held his assault rifle securely. While the others are off doing...whatever, he and Hunk have decided to practice their shooting. Just a month before, they stumbled upon an indoor shooting range not too far from the training deck. Ever since, the two best friends have been practicing together regularly. Lance enforces it – Hunk has never used a gun before Voltron and Lance doesn’t want him to accidentally shoot a team member in battle. Not that Lance knows anything about cannons, but eh. It’s fine. 

“So, how’s bonding with, uh… _Amarillo_?” Lance asks once Hunk finishes shooting a few targets, using Spanish since his mind decides to blank on the English word. They both squint at the far away target. Lance suddenly snaps his fingers. “Oh, Yellow!”

Hunk chuckles. “Am I getting worse or better? I can’t tell. But it’s going good,” he answers. Then pauses. “I think…? I dunno, I know our bond isn’t weak or anything but waiting for Yellow to show herself as an actual Lion is kinda nerve wracking.”

“Better, definitely,” Lance assures him and presses a button on a nearby wall to bring the targets to them. “You’re actually hitting them now, bro!”

The bayard disappears as Hunk faces Lance, grin wide and big. “I am, aren't I?” 

They hi-five once Lance walks over, the targets now right in front of them. None of the hits got to bullseye, but like Lance said: Hunk’s better. When they first started the shots of Hunk’s cannon always went wide, hitting a wall. 

“You’ll see Yellow soon, man,” Lance says after a moment of short silence. He takes the targets down and new ones materialize in various spots on the other side of the shooting range. “I mean, if it doesn't happen soon I’d be shocked! My best friend _will_ be seeing his Lion within the next few days, mark my words. You take care of her so much, so often, I might have to have a little talk with her if she takes too long.”

Hunk holds his hands up. “Whoa, hey now. No threatening Yellow, she doesn’t deserve it,” he says quickly, protectively.

“Not _threatening_ ,” Lance corrects. He tilts his chin up, one hand on his hip. “Just… An intervention, of sorts. Rhetorically speaking. She’s a big softie like you though, I don’t think I’ll have to do anything anyway.” He then lifts his assault rifle so he holds it in both hands, and moves to get into a spot where he can easily spot the targets. 

“Don’t worry, I get it.” Hunk gasps. “Oh! What do you think she’ll look like? Like, is she all yellow, or does she have the same color scheme as the mecha?”

Lance shoots two of the targets in a quick succession. “Blue looks exactly like the robot.” Admittedly, Lance didn’t realize that until after breakfast that first day. Before, he had been too half-asleep to really take notice. Blue is certainly _blue_ ; a stunning royal hue that matches the Paladin’s armor with beautiful white fur. But she also has red in some spots – such as on her forehead and across the spot where her shoulders meet her neck – and black as well. There isn’t much of either of those colors, but they’re there.

“ _Really_? That’s so– wait, you’ve _seen her_?!” Hunk asks the shock-filled question right as Lance shoots the last three targets, so it doesn’t register in his mind at first. 

“Huh? Oh! Yeah.”

Hunk stares, as if he’s waiting for something. When Lance just stares back, he motions for him to go on. “Are you…not gonna elaborate on that?” 

“It’s not that big of a deal.” A nonchalant shrug follows that statement and he watches as Hunk sputters for a second, at a loss for words. He lets his bayard disappear and walks over to the button to press it to bring the targets he shot over to them.

Don’t get him wrong, Lance knows that it actually is. He put two and two together the other day and realized that seeing Blue since _Arus_ , of all places, is probably a seriously big deal. Most people would probably expect him to boast about it, and that had been Lance’s first thought to do until he humbly realized that the others haven’t seen their lions yet. Except for _maybe_ Shiro. Just because Lance caught them cuddling and sleeping doesn’t mean Shiro can see Black just yet. At least, that’s what Blue told him. So, now his plan is to _not_ boast and make a big deal out of it. He doesn’t want to accidentally make anyone else feel bad. He won’t be the cause of insecurities for someone else. That’s happened to him by others far too often.

“How… Lance! Are you serious? This is– you’re probably the first one of us to see your Lion!” Hunk shouts and follows him to the wall. “I mean. There’s a possibility Shiro has too, but with the Zarkon thing it’s honestly a bit iffy. Oh, shit, do you think Zarkon can still see Black? Talk to her? Actually don’t answer, we are focused on _you_ right now. Lance, this is _so_ a big deal!”

“No, it’s not,” he denies with a chuckle. “You’re excited, that’s all. And, and so am I, but it’s nothing big–.”

Hunk vehemently shakes his head. “Nuh-uh, no way. I am not letting my best bud down play himself. Look, I’d be stupid not see that you and Blue have a strong connection. It honestly rival’s Shiro’s and Black’s. You could communicate telepathically with actual words two days into knowing her. The rest of us didn’t get like that with our Lions for another _week_! You’re like– like a prodigy at this lion bond stuff… Oh.” A beat. “Oh, I get it now.”

Curse his best friend for knowing him so well, Lance thought. He does his best to keep a neutral expression and turns to take the few steps to the targets he shot earlier. “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” he speaks too quickly for normal.

He hears Hunk sigh. “Lance.”

Instead of acknowledging that he heard him, Lance beams up at Hunk as he stands beside him after inspecting the targets quickly. “I got three out of five bullseyes!”

“Yes and that’s fantastic, but _Lance_.”

“Y’know, you keep saying my name and at some point you’re just gonna wear it out, my dude.”

He sighs a sigh that morphs into half of a slightly exasperated laugh halfway through. “Can we have a serious conversation about this, please? I’ll break out the puppy eyes, don’t make me do it,” he threatens.

Blue eyes narrow just a fraction as Lance debates on whether Hunk’s actually serious or not. A split second later, Hunk’s dark brown eyes turn glassy and his bottom lip juts out, trembling, and it’s the saddest most pitiful puppy-dog look Lance has ever witnessed in his life. (Except for his niece’s; her puppy eyes truly rival’s Hunk’s on all levels). It barely takes a tick for him to break. “Okay!” Lance shouts, waving his hands. He’s just glad Hunk doesn’t have his phone to start playing that ‘In the Arms of an Angel’ song like he did that one time. “Okay, _alright_ , just– cut it out!” 

The puppy eyes are gone in an instant. “Thank you. So, care to tell me why my bestest best friend isn’t telling anyone about his amazing progress with his Lion when he has every right to?”

“I thought you said you got it?”

“Hm, yes _but_ I want to hear you say it.” 

For a moment, Lance stays silent, figuring out how to really explain it because that’s what Hunk wants and what he probably deserves. But just as he opens his mouth, so do the shooting range’s doors. They slide open with a whoosh and the two Paladins whip their heads towards the entrance to see the final piece of the Garrison Trio in the doorway. Even from where they stand, the bags under her eyes are visible and her dirty blonde hair is bird’s nest, simply put. 

“Allura’s calling a team meeting,” Pidge tells them half distractedly as she continues to work away on an Altean tablet. 

“Why, is something wrong?” Hunk immediately asks.

When Pidge doesn’t answer, Hunk gets more anxious and Lance huffs as he walks up to her. He snatches the tablet out of her hands. She shouts in protest but he easily ignores it. She tried to snatch it back, but being Number Three as Coran sometimes calls him has perks. 

Said perks being tall and lanky.

“Give it back, Lance, I’m not in the mood!” As she jumps up, he holds it higher. 

“Relax, Pidgeon, just tell us what the meeting's about,” Lance says. Despite being ever so slightly annoyed with Pidge not answering Hunk, he puts up an aloof front. When Pidge backs up a few steps and he raises an eyebrow. As she runs forward and jumps to grab the tablet, he easily moves out of the way. 

“I’m doing important work!” Pidge shouts. “Stop playing games, Lance.”

“Sorry that goes against how I was made, so no can do.” His lips curl into a smug smirk. It’s dangerous, messing with Pidge like this; but working nonstop on the tech he got a few days ago and working to bond with Green is _also_ dangerous. Lance knows Pidge well – has since the Garrison. And maybe they weren’t exactly close then, but Lance has always noticed that once she gets sucked into things she forgets to take care of herself. So, really, he has good intentions. He’s just doing so in the way he knows best: by being an annoying brother. “When’s the last time you ate, Pidgeon? You look...peckish.”

Bright, tired hazel eyes narrow info slits. “Was that a fucking _bird pun_?”

The smirk grows. “Wow, Shiro would _so_ not approve of your language if he were in here,” he says instead of giving her an answer.

At her sides, Pidge’s hands ball into fists. Her glare hardens behind her glasses and maybe if she‘s more put together than Lance might feel a bit scared for his life. Instead, he doesn’t. “ _Argh_! You’re so _annoying_ today! Fine, keep the fucking tablet for all I care! I’m going to the meeting.” And with that, she stomps out of the shooting range and down the hall. 

Hunk sighs as he walks up. Once he’s beside Lance, they leave as well. “You could’ve _not_ pissed her off,” he tells Lance. “Things are gonna be tense now.”

“Meh. We’ll live.” He gives a careless shrug and a small, dismissive wave of his hand as he looks at the tablet. The triangular piece of tech Lance had went on that solo mission for is attached to it by an Altean cord. The screen is filled with codes and other techy stuff Lance doesn’t fully understand, but after listening to both her and Hunk ramble from time to time he’s gotten acquainted with some advanced tech things. While he’s looking, Hunk peers over his shoulder. “She hasn’t even hacked it yet,” he realizes. 

Hunk hums. “Now we know why she’s stressing,” he says quietly, as if speaking about it will bring the Green Paladin’s wrath upon them. 

“What are you two doing?”

“Shut up, Mullet,” Lance replies automatically. He frowns at himself and shakes his head. Keith’s scowl is practically _felt_. “ _Anyway_. Uh, Pidge hasn’t hacked into this device yet.”

“What? No way.” Keith moves to look over Lance’s other shoulder, and Lance does his best not to focus on how they're just centimeters from touching. How he can feel Keith’s breath. How part of the other's hair is tickling his ear and jaw. How he smells kinda nice, actually, _what the fuck_ –

Hunk taps something. A keyboard shows up. Altean stares back at them. Their eyes all narrow. “I don’t suppose either you know enough Altean to do something about this?” Hunk inquires with thinly veiled hope. 

“Yeah, I do,” comes Lance’s response before he can think it through. 

“Oh cool!”

“Wait, _what_?”

Lance smirks once again. And, _no_ , it’s not because Keith sounds impressed, okay? “Fuck yeah it’s cool. And, Keith my dude, keep up.”

“Keep up–!” Keith shouts indignantly, right in Lance’s ear. 

“ _Ow_ , man!”

“ _Paladins! Meeting. Now._ ” The Princess’ voice booms over the speakers, wherever they are, making the boys flinch and jump in surprise. None of them had realized they stopped walking.

While Hunk, at the small scare Allura gives them, straightens up and moves to the side, Lance and Keith somehow stick closer together. It’s a belated realization. Lance almost fully sinks and relaxes into the touch. At least, up until he makes the connection that it’s all from Keith. It’s the front of _Keith’s_ right shoulder that is touching the back of Lance’s left, and _Keith’s_ hands are on the curve of his waist, fisting the fabric of his clothes, and it's just... _Keith_. Admittedly, he likes the touch. Keith is an attractive guy, someone Lance might be harboring the tiniest of crushes toward. The touch isn’t exactly unwelcomed. 

But still; it’s Keith. 

And that’s when Lance tenses up. A millisecond later he can feel Keith do the same, and neither of them hesitate to jump apart. 

Lance takes that chance and runs with a blushing face. “Coming, Princess!” he shouts, not even giving Keith an opportunity to say something to him or Hunk to face him with a confused expression.

+++

The meeting doesn’t happen for another twenty minutes because Pidge attempts to attack Lance, who still has the tablet. The ungodly shriek he lets out when the young teen lunges for him out of nowhere would have been funny if Lance’s life didn’t feel so threatened. 

“Give it fucking back!” 

“No!”

It’s a distraction from what happened with Keith in the hallway so Lance is actually kind of relieved. Pidge is on his back like a damn koala turned gremlin, one small arm around his neck and the other reaching for the tablet in his hand. Lance is quite literally just standing there nearly being choked; his right arm is stretched out and his other hand is on the underside of Pidge’s knee in case she starts to slip. She might be a little on the violent side today but he’s not about to let her accidentally hurt herself. 

The arm tightens around his neck. It becomes just a little bit harder to breathe. “I will strangle you,” Pidge threatens. 

“Jokes on you, Pidgey, I have four other siblings! I can do this all day.” 

“Don’t quote Captain America at me!” Between Keith and now Pidge yelling right in his ear, Lance starts to think maybe he’ll have some hearing loss by the end of the day.

Before either Altean can question who Captain America is, Lance grits his teeth as Pidge climbs higher to try and reach the end of his longer arms. “Dude, just give up! Ugh, _Shiro_!” He’s plenty aware that he sounds like a kid calling for their mom or dad but at this moment he doesn’t care. 

“Tell him to give it back!”

“Tell _her_ to sleep for once!”

They’ve been at it for the past fifteen minutes. Once he got to the bridge, Pidge hadn’t hesitated, and since then both Hunk and Keith have arrived. Lance is pretty sure any of them would have interrupted the fight if they could. In fact, Coran has tried and all he got in return was a kick to the gut from Pidge. Their resident Space Uncle retreats fairly quickly after that. At the start two paladins wrestled on the floor until Lance managed to get away, and then Pidge chased him around the bridge, and somehow she ended up in his back on the other side of the bridge, far away from the others. Far away from help. 

“All right, _enough_ , you two!” Shiro shouts. Pidge actually freezes as the Black Paladin walks over, clearly over with their fight. Lance doesn’t move either. He easily gives up the tablet when Shiro reaches for it. “Lance, stop picking fights with your teammates. And Pidge, you need to take breaks from work with the tech anyway.”

“It wasn’t intentional this time, Shiro,” Lance says. 

“You yanked it out of my hands!” Pidge yells. In his ear. _Again_.

“Yeah, because you clearly haven’t slept in a couple of days. I was doing you a favor, you’re welcome. No need to thank me.”

“ _Guys_.” Shiro’s stern tone snaps them out of another brewing argument. Pidge’s mouth snaps shut and Lance mumbles a genuine apology, Pidge uttering something similar a second later. Shiro gives them both a look. He knows that look. 

Lance grimaces and Pidge groans. “...Sorry for snatching your tablet,” he mumbles.

“I’m sorry I bit you… And tackled you… And attempted to strangle you…” she says. The small Paladin shifts around enough to where she can somewhat easily rest her chin on the top of his head. It makes Lance wince for a second. Pidge’s chin is sharp and pointy and not exactly comfortable on his scalp.

Then, he blinks. He lifts his eyes up as if he can see Pidge. “Wait. Was that a _Lilo & Stitch _ reference?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she deadpans.

“Hold up, you _bit him_?” Hunk asks, sounding on the verge of laughter. 

“Yes!” Lance yells, and shakes one arm in Hunk’s direction as Pidge laughs on his back, chin finally leaving his head. “On my _wrist_! I think it’s bruised.”

Keith rolls eyes, something that Lance catches immediately. “You’re fine, you big baby.”

“ _Ahem_.”

They all snap their gazes to Allura. Her face is scarily neutral, and Shiro subtly motions for Lance and Pidge to go over to the others. Lance let’s Pidge hop down from his back. Together they walk back with Shiro right behind them, and Lance quickly moves to stand beside Hunk while Pidge takes the place on the other side of their friend. Nothing is said as they stand together on the bridge, the Paladins being able to tell that the Princess isn’t exactly pleased in the current moment. 

“We have a diplomatic mission to get ready for,” Allura announces to the silence, a grin beginning to replace her neutral expression. The younger four begin to groan; they’ve only been on a couple so far, and each time the Galra Empire attacks, turning peaceful diplomatic missions into dangerous battle missions as they try to keep whatever planet they’re on safe. Even Shiro grimaces. “Do not worry, though, this one is not for a while. Not until all of your Lions are well bonded with you.”

Pidge half raises her hand. “Uh, why’s that?”

“The people on the planet of Yizquel worship lions. They see them as gods, so to speak, although that isn’t quite the word they use,” Allura explains. “Simply put, lions are important to their culture, and ten-thousand years ago the Yizquelites helped out with Volton if and/or when needed. In the very beginning they were the ones to help the former Paladins realize that the lion ships are not only that, but also real, live lions. Altea and Yizquel worked together to help improve Voltron as a team, as well as help out around the known universe. I am positive that once again we will have them on our side, but I want you all to have strong bonds so we don’t have to stay there for too long.” Allura pauses. “Also it wouldn’t be so terrible to impress them a bit.”

Shiro nods and gives her a reassuring smile. “We’ll all work to have strong bonds, Princess, no need to worry.”

“So, when exactly is this happening?” Keith asks. 

“Whenever the Lions are at _least_ to your shoulders, Number Four,” Coran answers with a beaming smile. His mustache twitches. “As your bonds grow, as do the Lions until they are, essentially, fully grown!” 

Lance instantly thinks to Blue who’s a half a head taller than him. His eyes drop to the ground as he mulls that over, how far ahead of the others he must be in the Lion-Paladin bond.

“...Fully grown _Altean_ lions, I’m assuming?” asks Hunk, then. The Princess and Coran nod. “Yeah. Okay. We still don’t know how tall this is.”

“I told you: nine and a half flooshes.”

“Coran,” Shiro starts patiently, “we don’t have the measurement of... _flooshes_ on Earth.”

“Ah! Right, of course. Let me just–.” And then Coran shifts to grow taller, nearly startling most of the Paladins until they remember how Alteans can shape shift. Once he’s done, they all stare at the tall height he shifted to. “This is the height of the tallest recorded Altean lion!”

“Well, now we need a measuring–.”

“That looks just a little over two and a half meters – otherwise known as nine feet,” Lance interrupts Keith once he gets over the initial shock of how tall Coran became. Everyone looks at him, and he snaps his eyes to them to stare back. “What?”

“How do you _know_ that?” Pidge questions, fully confused. “And how did you figure that out so fast? You’re not supposed to be good with numbers!”

That almost makes Lance frown. She says it like he’s supposed to be dumb, and he _isn’t_. He’s tempted to say something about the advanced physics courses the Garrison made all of the pilots take, and how eyeballing the height of something and/or someone isn’t exactly hard, but doesn’t. Instead, he smirks and places his hands on his hips. “I’m just that amazing,” he jokes, adding a wink afterward. 

“Of course you are,” comes the sarcastic, in sync replies from Keith and Pidge. Lance glares at them both.

Shiro speaks again before the teenagers can fall into the usual bickering, “Just so I understand: the Lions will be seen by the Yizquelites. That means that our bond as a team will have to be strong enough for all of us to see each other’s Lions, correct?”

“Exactly,” Allura tells him. “So this mission isn’t happening too soon, depending on how fast you all grow together, Paladins and Lions alike.”

“I must say, though,” Coran speaks up, “The Paladins before you – yes, _including_ King Alfor and Zarkon – did not get to see their respective Lions for about a deca-phoeb. It’s simply been a couple phoebs for you. Quite impressive. So I doubt it will be too long before each Paladin can see each Lion.”

Hunk leans closer to Lance. “Phoeb is a month, right?” he whispers the question, unsure, and Lance nods. 

“It took them a _year_?” Pidge’s eyes grow wide in surprise. “Why did I think we were the ones slacking on the bonding thing? The fu– ... _heck_.” Her face twists into a scowl at correcting her language. Shiro seems far too pleased.

“Pidge! Have some confidence in us!” Lance chastises teasingly. 

“Shut _up_.”

“ _Both_ of you shut up,” Keith butts in, mostly glaring at Lance who returns the look with ease.

Keith may be attractive, but he’s still such an ass a lot of the times.

“Is there anything else you wanted to talk about, Princess?” Shiro talks over whatever reply Lance tries to get out. He sends the three of them a warning glance, and Hunk looks around the bridge so he doesn’t witness it. 

Allura thinks about it for a second. “I would like to say that with this diplomatic mission being however far into the future it is, we will not be ignoring any calls for help and the duty of Voltron between now and then, and especially after. I don’t want anyone slacking.”

“Of course, Princess.”

The meeting goes on for a few more minutes. It’s not until Hunk and Coran start talking about Earth vs Altean measurement names when it officially comes to an end, both Allura and Shiro sensing that it will be better if they end the meeting already. 

Pidge immediately starts talking with Allura about ‘girl stuff’. Pidge obviously uses the words in an attempt to gross Lance out, but considering he has two sisters who over shared far too many times for his liking that he’s gotten used to it, he merely just stares, unaffected, for a half a second before saying, “Cool, have fun,” and inserting himself into Hunk’s and Coran’s conversation. At some point in time, Keith disappears (probably to train; not that Lance _cares_ , okay?). Shiro eventually leaves as well, but only after he double checks that no one needs anything.

“Oh! I have to go make dinner!” Coran suddenly explains after checking the time. 

Lance’s eyes bug out and Hunk pales. A few feet away, Pidge’s sound of disgust can be heard with Allura’s excited ‘yes’.

“I’ll help!” Hunk volunteers himself up. 

Coran clasps his hands together. “Wonderful! Come along, Number Two, off we go. Now, we’ll be using ingredients I found off the acidic planet we passed by last week…”

Lance grimaces as they leave the bridge. “Food from an acidic planet,” he says to himself. He turns to Pidge when she walks up to him, also clearly unnerved with the idea of Coran making dinner. He shrugs his shoulders up along with his hands, palms to the ceiling. “Guess I’ll die.”

Pidge snorts and laughs loudly _immediately_. He joins in, unable to help himself and proud that he’s able to make a friend laugh after being so purposefully annoying. “Oh, God… That was great – you did the face and everything,” she continues to laugh, though after a few seconds she sobers up. “Hey, uh. Sorry, y’know, for attacking you. Seriously.”

Lance wipes at his eyes and smiles as they begin to leave the bridge. They give a short farewell to Allura with a promise of seeing her at dinner. “It’s alright. You’re forgiven. Probably shouldn’t have snatched the tablet anyway.”

She hums. “Definitely.”

“I’m actually sorry, too.”

“I forgive you,” Pidge says and pauses dramatically. “For now.”

He chuckles lightly. “Go get some rest, okay?”

Her lips pull down into a frown. “Do I have to?” It’s the closest to a whine he’s ever heard from Pidge.

“ _Dude_. Yes! One of us will get you for dinner, and Shiro will give you back your tablet the quicker you rest up. And your laptop – no doubt he left to confiscate that when the meeting ended,” he tells her. Lance can tell in her expression that she knows that he’s right. 

Pidge groans defeatedly. “ _Fine_. I’ll take a nap. Happy?”

“Not until it actually happens.”

“You’re such a bother.”

“It’s part of my charm.”

“No. No, it’s not.”

“Uh, yes it is.”

“Then go ‘ _bother_ ’ Keith,” she says with a smirk.

Lance squawks. “Wha– Pidge! No! Disgusting! He is my _rival_!”

Pidge stares and blinks once. “Alright.”

About to snap back at her for teasing him, he clamps his mouth shut. He narrows his eyes slightly as he looks down at her, arms crossed over his chest. He can’t tell if he should be suspicious of the lack of teasing. “Um. Okay.”

Pidge nods, then doesn’t say anything else. Well, she does, but it’s a mumble so quiet that Lance doesn’t quite catch the words other than something that sounds like numbers so he certainly isn’t about ask. They separate soon after to go their own ways. Pidge, to sleep; Lance, to...well, he actually doesn’t know what. Meh, he’ll figure it out soon enough. He’ll definitely think about Pidge not messing with him further during whatever he chooses.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i have never had to type out the word ‘bond’ so many times before. it’s already getting annoying lmao
> 
> also hello for the record, pidge & lance WILL be having a sibling-like relationship bc i’m a sucker for those, hunk will no doubt be the best best friend for lance there is, and i’m already setting stuff up for the fic that comes after this, wink wink 
> 
> also x2 i’m so sorry if the tenses in some places get weird! i’m not fully used to writing in present tense form, so i’ll read over everything eventually and edit it all


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More of Hunk and Lance hanging out, there’s another bomb, and a certain Princess isn’t happy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> trigger warning for a panic attack, 1 explosion & some mentions blood. 
> 
> considering this fic is more focused on the Paladins’ friendships & such rather than drama & violence, i don’t write about these things in too much detail. just enough to get the point across in the story. it’s not graphic at all
> 
> if u still want to skip it, everything starts with ‘Beep.’ & basically ends at the following scene break
> 
> (also pls don’t get used to these fast updates, i’m just getting lucky with how easy it is writing this right now lmao)

“...and that’s why I’m not boasting or anything, really, about seeing Blue.”

“You self sacrificial, big hearted, stubborn idiot.”

Lance makes a sound between a squawk and a gasp. “ _Hunk_!” It kind of hurt his throat, in all honesty, and he winces after. 

The two have been talking for the better part of two hours. After eating dinner – which included ingredients from the acidic planet Coran mentioned earlier no matter how much Hunk tried to offer different things, and somehow none of them fucking _died_ – everyone went their own ways. Lance’s attempts at avoiding Hunk and the impending conversation about hiding how strong his bond is with Blue unfortunately lasted all of three minutes. Hunk, the gentle giant that he is, threw Lance over his shoulder and carried him to his own room. Now, two hours after side tracking Hunk and dancing around the topic, Lance finally tells him the truth while sitting on opposite ends of Hunk’s bed, occasionally getting sidetracked unintentionally because that’s what happens when a boy with ADHD tries to tell something straight forward for longer than a minute.

Hunk makes a face at himself. “Okay, you’re not an idiot, but the rest of those things are very true,” he says quickly. 

“I’m not self sacrificial!” Lance argues, voice rising an octave. How _absurd_. He doesn’t do those types of things, does he? No, okay, _yes_ ; Lance knows he does, but not a lot! 

Hunk levels him with a ‘you're joking’ look. “Dude. You jumped to cover Coran from the blast on Arus.”

Lance winces again, subtly this time so Hunk doesn’t notice. He doesn’t like talking about Arus for some reason. He avoids it as much as possible, which is thankfully easy to do since the incident isn’t brought up a lot, if at all, but when it is talked about it makes him feel anxious, almost. Unsettled. And _that_ he doesn’t understand because why would it make him feel like that if he doesn’t even remember most of what happened? The few nightmares he understands, but getting anxious at just the topic of it, he doesn’t. It’s odd. 

“Okay. That’s _one_ time,” Lance speaks to stop his own train of thought. 

“Lance, you put others before you _all the time_ ,” Hunk tells him, stressing the last few words to get his point across. He doesn’t stop there, counting on his fingers the different times Lance has been completely selfless. “You quit gymnastics when you were twelve so Rachel could continue with ballet. You covered Pidge’s ass when she talked back to Iverson more than once. Hell, man, you even gave me half of the money you were saving to buy a ticket for Cuba so I could buy a ticket to see _my_ family during winter break. Like, you knew you’d have to ask for money from Ronni even though you promised her that you’d save up your own, but you did it anyway. Don’t even get me started on the nights you stayed up with me when my anxiety about tests got bad! 

“And now you’re hiding the fact that you have a strong bond with Blue just so you don’t accidentally make anyone feel bad about their own progress.” 

Deep down, he knows Hunk is right. Hell, not even deep down – on the fucking _surface level_ , he knows what his best friend has said is nothing but the truth. All his life, he’s put others before him. Sacrificing his time, sleep, money, his own damn skin to help out others in various different ways. There isn’t anything wrong with that, he knows that as well. In fact it’s one of the things he likes about himself: he’s not a selfish prick. 

“Your point?” Lance inquires, because he really wants to know where Hunk is going with this. 

“My point is that you’re allowed to be selfish sometimes, man. Boast about something you're obviously good at,” Hunk says. “I don’t want your insecurities holding you back.”

Lance sighs but gives him a reassuring smile. “It’s not an insecurity thing this time. Like, at all. I’ll tell them eventually, I swear, but not right now.”

Hunk’s brown eyes take over his face, obviously trying to see if Lance is lying or not. When he realizes that Lance isn’t, he smiles wide. “Good! Phew, okay, that takes a load off of my worries.” He chuckles lightly, relieved. 

“I know it does,” Lance says with a smile and a chuckle of his own. 

Hunk looks to the ceiling and taps his chin, humming and thinking. “Alright, so we talked about your homesickness, and mine, and made plans to get Pidge to sleep more… We just went over your bond with Blue and all that jazz… Any other best friend-esque topics we need to talk about?”

Lance thinks about it as well. A certain something pops up almost immediately, something Lance has been meaning to tell Hunk for years now but he somehow always keeps himself from saying. 

Here’s the thing: Lance is bisexual. He’s known for years, though the first couple were filled with denial and the last couple of years were spent finally accepting himself. He’s proud of it now. Proud of himself. Well, as proud as he can be without actually _saying_ it. His old plan for coming out had been to tell his older sister, Veronica, who’s came out as a lesbian around the time Lance had his Bi Awakening. Then to his twin, Rachel, and then Hunk after that, and then the rest of his family eventually. Now, he’s in space. He has no way to tell either of his sisters, and anxiety about telling anyone has begun to slowly grip at him once again.

“Um.” Lance bites his tongue. “I– no. I don’t think so.” 

_Coward_ , one side of his brain hisses. 

_Shut up_ , the other side snaps.

“Really? Huh, thought we’d have more to catch up on. We haven’t had much time to hang out as often,” Hunk says.

Lance dramatically groans and slouches against the wall at the end of the bed. “Don’t remind me. Not spending time with you as much _sucks_. Oh, you know what we should do? Plan a movie night!” He bolts up to sit up right at the idea, excitement filling him. 

“Do we really want to watch an Altean movie, though?” Hunk quickly questions uncertainly, and gets a raised eyebrow from Lance in return. “From what Coran says I’m kind of concerned.”

“Like Pidge doesn’t have movies downloaded onto her computer,” Lance sarcastically replies. “She has a shit ton of music, I don’t doubt there’s movies on there too. With your minds combined, I have no doubt that you’ll figure out a way for everyone to watch them!”

“I mean, we can definitely try–.”

A knock on Hunk’s door cuts him off. The two best friends glance at one another, wondering who could possibly be up at this hour besides them, before Hunk quietly shouts that whoever’s there can come in. The automatic door slides open. Hunk and Lance share another look when they immediately recognize Shiro. The older pilot crosses his arms and leans on the doorframe. 

“Oh. Hey, Shiro,” Hunk greets, smiling.

“Yeah, hey, Shiro,” Lance says. “What’s up?”

“Nothing much. Just came to tell you guys we’re doing early morning training, so you better head to bed,” Shiro informs.

“Aw man, _seriously_? It’s not even close to midnight yet!” Well, that’s a guess. Pidge, Coran and Hunk have yet to make a proper time table and clocks to go with the day and night cycles they’ve worked on for the Castle Ship. From what Hunk has told him though, they are getting close to finishing it.

Shiro lets out a small, amused laugh. “I know. But Pidge is actually sleeping right now, and I’ve somehow convinced Keith to at least head to his room for the night. I want you guys to at least _try_ to get well rested for training tomorrow.”

At that, Hunk starts to nod. “That’s reasonable. Shouldn’t be too hard anyway, I’m beat,” he says. As if to prove his point, he yawns. 

Lance just groans and slides down the wall against his back to slouch once more. Shiro’s right – of course he is. Trying to sleep now instead of later is better than anything, and training when you’re not well rested is hell. 

There’s just one little problem: Lance is gradually having more and more trouble falling asleep. He knows part of the reason is because he's not used to the quiet the Castle Ship brings at night. Coming from a large family, there had always been some sort of noise in the background. Plus he had Rachel as a roommate; then Hunk as one at the Galaxy Garrison, and it had been much quieter there but he eventually got used to just Hunk’s snores. Now he’s in space, with no roommate, and no background noises other than the whirring of the Castle Ship. It’s unnerving. Makes his homesickness worse sometimes. There’s definitely another reason he can’t sleep, too. Hunk says it’s most likely some form of insomnia, something to do with anxiety and being in a war. Lance doesn’t know what to do with that information. 

(He also realizes that there’s probably a similar reason why Pidge works so much, or why Hunk tries so often to cook something edible with the alien ingredients, or why Shiro has dark bags under his eyes more often than not, or why Keith trains so often day after day – all of them avoiding sleep in some subtle way or another… Anyway, _moving on_.)

“You’re both buzzkills,” Lance says with an over the top pout. 

Hunk pats his leg sympathetically and Shiro shoots him a crooked smile. “Sorry Lance,” the young man says, only sounding one-third apologetic. “You gotta head to bed.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m goin’,” he sighs, moving to get out of the bed. Before he can step away from it, Hunk sits up and they do a short and simple version of the long, complicated handshake they’ve had since they first met one another in person – otherwise known as their first day of the Galaxy Garrison. 

They say good night to one another, Hunk says it to Shiro who says it back, and when Lance leaves Hunk’s room and heads to his own he and Shiro repeat the nightly farewell. 

It doesn’t surprise Lance when, a few hours later, he’s still awake. 

+++

A large splash echoes around the room, the joyful shout of laughter cutting off as the Paladin submerges under the water. A larger splash follows not even a second later, causing the boy to flail around under the surface when the Blue Lion fives in. Lance grins and swims above water. He shakes his head, whipping his brunet hair around to shake away the water, and he laughs when Blue comes up to do the same. 

A few or so days have gone by since Allura’s meeting about the Yizquelites and their planet, and since the. they’ve done the usual: train, do some chores, fight the Galra when and if needed, train some more, eat and sleep, more chores, train once again, and sleep– wait no, thats a call for help from a Galra ingested planet, time to fight!

Between all of that, and maybe even during, the Paladins of Voltron have all tried to bond more with the Lions. 

Lance doesn’t really know what the others do, but he’s made sure to spend as much time as possible with Blue. He talks – tells stories, makes jokes, rambles – and cuddles with her, especially at night time in the observatory room from that first night. In return, Blue of course has cuddled back and she actually reacts to some of the jokes Lance makes, good and bad, and comforts him when she notices a negative shift in his mood. She’s even told a few stories of before the current team, clearly about Voltron back on Altea 10,000 years ago. Although, those stories are somewhat vague. He gets the sense that they’re not close enough for Blue to go into full detail. Or maybe talking about the past brings up too many emotions for the Lion. After all, Allura did say they have personalities and such. Each Lion is bound to deal with the nostalgia of what had been before in different ways. Maybe Blue just doesn’t want to dwell on the past.

Blue has also given Lance some facts about herself. One in particular: she _adores_ the water. That’s a given, obviously, with her being the Guardian Spirit of Water and all, but it still makes him excited. So, now here they are, in a _completely normal_ pool Blue found on a lower level, having fun while the others do God knows what. 

Early this morning – and by early, Lance means _early_ – Team Voltron got ambushed by a small Galra fleet. It hadn’t been anything they can’t handle but Allura still had to wormhole them into a different part of the galaxy they currently reside in. No one ended up in a pod, but the lion-ships, as everyone has started to call them, got a bit banged up. Some more than others. None of them bad, though. So after that, plus working on cleaning up Blue’s mecha, Lance and Blue are together, swimming, having fun like friends do for the most part. Allura said to do something productive once they got safely away from the Galra. Obviously Lance chose to hang with Blue and work on their bond some more.

“I can’t get over how nice it is to be swimming again,” Lance says aloud, doing a few backstrokes. The pool isn’t like the one he and Keith found that one time. This one is obviously more like one for swimming competitions. Long, probably close to Earth’s 50 meters, with ten lanes; an Olympic-sized pool. There were even starting blocks at one end. Though, it’s certainly deeper than the usual six-foot depth. If Lance has to guess, it’s probably closer to eight or nine. 

_“You swam a lot on Earth?”_ Blue asked. The words are clearer than before, less like a thought and more like someone actually speaking. 

Lance smiles to himself, now floating on his back as he stares at the tall ceiling. “Oh, you don’t even know the half of it, _Azul_! A pretty decent amount of my life I lived by the beach – you know what a beach is, right?” He turns his head to look at Blue, who’s swimming idly nearby. She moves her head in a nod. “Great! So, yeah, I lived by one. This is in Cuba, by the way. I swam there whenever I could, but unfortunately we moved to America a little after my eleventh birthday. Um, about a year? I think, yeah, a year later is when I joined my middle school’s swimming team. Also quit gymnastics, but not because I joined the swimming team but because money was kinda tight back then, and it was either that or let Rachel quit ballet. 

“Fun fact! I’m actually a few minutes older than Rach but everyone always says she’s the mature one, which I don’t really understand when she’s the one who filled Vero’s and Luis’ shampoo and conditioner with dish soap and mayonnaise on three different occasions.” Lance grins at the memories. The first two times she’d done it because their older siblings pissed her off, but the most recent time she did it for shits and giggles just a few weeks before Lance and the others disappeared into space; she even sent him a video, having recorded their verbal reactions from the safety of the hallway. He tries not to frown when a bit of homesickness claws at him once again, wishing he could watch the video. “Wonder if Pidge can find a way to charge my phone… She obviously charges her computer somehow.”

 _“Green’s cub definitely has the ability to figure that out,”_ Blue tells him.

Lance bends backwards and dives under the water, doing a small flip. He breaks the surface a second later and pushes his soaked hair off of his forehead, kicking his legs to stay above the water. “Of course she does! It’s–.” 

_Beep._

The two freeze. Blue perks up, ears and eyes alert. Lance frowns. He slowly spins in the water to look around. 

_Beep._

“What was that?” He doesn’t see anything unusual.

_Beep._

Blue swims over to him and starts to push him with her head to the edge of the pool. Lance doesn’t argue, in fact he goes with the flow of being pushed, and climbs out, taking in everything in the room, trying to pinpoint where the hell the beeping is coming from as he stands there. Blue gets out as well, prowling the area but she never puts herself too far away from Lance, ears twitching and fail flicking.

_Beep._

Movement out of the corner of his eye catches his attention. He turns his head just in time to see something about the size of a baseball roll from a vent and to his feet. A small circle on it’s side blinks in time with yet another _beep_.

“Well, _shit_ –.”

A few things happen in a short span of three seconds. 

One: Lance realizes it’s another bomb, and then realizes that there may be an intruder on the ship. Probably in the vents.

Two: the alarms blare loudly and Allura confirms his suspicions, voice raised over the alarms.

Three: the beeping picks up way too quickly for his liking, the bomb grows fucking _spikes_ , and Blue tackles him back into the pool a split second before it goes off, curling around him protectively. 

Shrapnel still cuts the inner side of his left knee and a piece lodges itself in the outer part of his right shoulder. The sound of the explosion is still heard – both above and underwater – and the force of it even shakes the Castle Ship. This time, Lance doesn’t get knocked out. The eerie silence that follows, even under the surface water, kind of makes him wish he did. 

He pulls himself back above water once he deems it’s safe and gasps in some much needed air. Shrapnel that had been built into the bomb is everywhere – the pool, the wall, the floor. Panic sets in as he thinks about Blue and how this time _he_ is the one who got tackled instead of the other way around, and it worsens when he doesn’t see her in the water. 

_“I am fine, my Paladin. I shifted back into the lion-ship. It is not safe for me in my physical form if there is an intruder.”_

“Oh,” he whispers. _Okay_ , he thinks to her. 

Blue doesn’t answer, and Lance doesn’t bother her to. Instead, he pulls himself halfway out, and takes note of the vent that the bomb rolled out of. The grate of it’s kicked out on the floor, and the door to the room has yet to automatically slide shut from the person’s escape. Before he can do anything about that though, Keith is skidding to a halt in the doorway. 

“Lance!”

He tries to casually nod but by Keith’s worried expression, it doesn’t come off that way. It probably has to do with the panic that _won’t go away_. 

Keith, bayard in hand, runs over, avoiding the shrapnel from the bomb with ease. “Breathe, Lance,” he says, crouching beside the pool and helping him out the rest of the way. The words are slightly muffled; not due to anything Keith is doing, but due to the bomb that went off right beside him. He thinks. It doesn’t help that his ears are ringing.

“I am,” he chokes out. He’ll worry about his hearing later. 

“Yeah, _barely_. You’re panicking too much,” Keith says. 

“Excuse you, I am panicking a perfectly normal amount,” Lance argues, all the while sounding breathless as an invisible weight settles in his lungs. At least the ringing is gradually going away. Things are still, unfortunately, muffled.

Keith’s face contorts into the usual _what-the-fuck-Lance_ expression. “Are you seriously fighting me about whether or not you’re on the verge of a panic attack?” He doesn’t give Lance a moment to reply. “Just– _please_ can you pretend you don’t think of me as a rival for one goddamn second and let me help you?”

There’s a large part of him that wants to tell Keith off, continue arguing because that is what’s normal and safe. It’s something that he knows, that he’s used to. What he isn’t quite used to is being vulnerable around the guy he calls a rival yet secretly has the tiniest crush on; not used to being so close to having a full blown panic attack; not used to being nearly blown up not once but _twice_. But having hands on his elbows feels grounding, and having someone in front of him makes some of the panic go away. Not much at all, but there’s still a difference. So the other part of him, the one that isn’t telling him to keep arguing but rather to agree, wins in the end. 

“That was easier than expected,” Keith mumbles at Lance’s small nod, but still doesn’t look completely relieved. “Just breathe with me, okay?” Another shaky nod. “In four, hold, out four. In,” he breathes in for four counts, “hold. Then out,” breathes out for four counts. And repeats again, and again, and again. Until Lance can easily match up with Keith’s and isn’t scarily close to having a full panic attack. 

“...Thanks,” Lance whispers. The ringing in his ears went away by then, and he can hear clearer too. It almost makes him sigh in relief. Still shaken up but now not so freaked out, his fingers twist into the fabric of Keith’s red jacket. He blinks rapidly at realizing what he’s doing, wonders how and when his hands even ended up there, and lets go as if the fabric hurt him. In return, Keith releases his elbows, but he doesn’t move away. 

“Anytime,” Keith says just as quietly.

A teasing smirk curls onto his lips, and when he looks at him, Keith rolls his eyes. “Aw, does someone care about little ol’ me?”

Keith grunts and stands. “Only ‘cause you’re my teammate.” As he turns and walks away, Lance nearly asks where he’s going but stops when he sees that Keith isn’t leaving the room. He just goes over to the towel Lance brought along that sits by the shirt he had been wearing, tears off a few pieces with his bayard, and then walks back over. 

“Allura’s gonna be pissed you tore one of Altea’s towels.” He tells himself to stop watching Keith as he messes with the few strands while he walks over, but he doesn’t have the will power to. Hopefully Keith doesn’t notice.

“She’ll live,” he mutters. “Your knee won’t stop bleeding and you’ve got a piece of the bomb in your shoulder. I think that’s more important than a stupid towel.”

“Touché.” He reaches for one of the strands but Keith swats his hands away and sits down in front of him again. “Wha– hey!”

“Your hands are still shaking.”

Oh. “Oh,” he says out loud. He noticed that?

Keith barely even hesitates to straighten Lance’s leg out, wrapping the torn towel piece around the wound and tying a knot with ease. He uses gentle touches through it all. Still, it kind of hurts; not what Keith’s doing (mostly), but more so the actual cut and the muscle around it. 

Lance desperately wants to say something, because it’s weirdly silent and Keith is being weirdly attentive and weirdly nice, and neither of them are bickering or pushing one another’s buttons. So it’s just. Weird. Also it’s not helping the tiny crush that he’s been hoping would dissipate as time went on. The situation is making it grow somehow. The gentle touches; the obvious worry and concern; the intense concentration. He shouldn’t be on the verge of turning into a blushy, stuttery mess just because Keith’s tending to a wound! 

Lance can’t even force any words out when Keith moved to his shoulder. 

At least until Keith touches the shrapnel. Lance jerks back, eyes wide. “Wait, what are you doing?” 

“Uh, taking it out?” Keith says. The silent _duh_ is still heard as clear as day. 

“But it’s keeping the blood in!” Lance shouts, left hand motioning for the metal in his shoulder. 

“Yeah, but it might be laced with something so it’s probably better if we don’t leave it in there.”

“Probably,” Lance repeats skeptically, and Keith does an awkward little shrug that shouldn’t be cute, because since when is a shrug cute?

“Well. Yeah.” 

“...Oh, my God, just take me to Coran!”

“He’s running diagnostics on the Castle with Allura because half of the ship’s power went out.”

“Then get the others!”

“The intruder is still on the loose so they’re looking for him. Or her; them.”

Ignoring the implications of _that_ , Lance groans as dramatically as he’s known for and grits his teeth. “Are you sure?”

“About the others being too busy, or your shoulder?” When Lance points, Keith sighs. “Yes, I am sure. You won’t bleed out. And despite popular belief, I wouldn’t intentionally hurt you.” 

Lance stares. “Well. There’s a first time for everything.”

“Well,” Keith starts in the same tone and goes back to the other’s shoulder, “This isn’t the first time I’m taking care of you after a bomb.” Then, with the second torn piece of the towel, yanks the metal out. Lance’s pained scream echoes faintly against the walls. The sight of the jagged edged shrapnel makes both boys grimace.

“ _Ow_!” He shouts, indignant, and punches Keith’s shoulder. “That hurt!”

“Don’t make me have to redo this,” the other Paladin mumbles, using the final piece of the towel to wrap the wound. 

“Uh, you _hurt_ me!”

“Not intentionally, though.”

“Still,” Lance petulantly says. 

Keith shakes his head with another roll of his eyes. One corner of his mouth quirks up. Not too noticeable of an action, but Lance sees it nonetheless. “C’mon, Drama Queen, let's find the others.”

Lance’s eyes narrow at Keith when he stands. “You’re not gonna apologize, are you?”

“Nope.”

“ _Ugh_.”

+++

They end up heading to the infirmary. Between not wanting to interrupt the quite literal man (alien?) hunt the other Paladins found themselves in, and the clear indication of the other half of the Castle’s power turning back on – the whirring got just a little bit louder and both Keith and Lance are able to feel the air pressure difference – they decide that destination is best. Plus, both teens would much rather see Coran as soon as possible because both towel strips are already soaked in blood. As they walk along, Lance rolls up the right short sleeve of the Altean shirt he found so it doesn’t get blood on it too. It’s a lot like a t-shirt; except it’s really thin and looks like satin but somehow feels like cotton. It confuses the boy immensely, but it’s comfortable and he really doesn’t want it stained in any way.

Neither of them speak on the way. Which, really, is quite shocking considering who Lance is as a person. He wants to blame it on how they’re in Serious Battle Mode with an intruder being hunted down, but that’s not it. Lance is honestly still shaken up, and he’s a bit worried about Blue. She obviously kept some of the shrapnel from getting into him when she tackled him back into the pool. It’s just the question of whether or not she got hurt. 

Lance’s thoughts are halted as they enter the infirmary, a certain alien’s voice bringing him back to the present.

“Lance, my boy!”

Other than a split second jolt of surprise at the shout, the aforementioned Paladin lights up at hearing the Altean’s voice. “Coran!”

“ _Lance_.”

The harsh tone makes Lance, Coran and Keith all freeze. Lance stills from going in to meet Coran in a warm hug, and the Altean does the same, looking to Allura in confusion. Keith stops beside Lance. The two share a quick, uncertain glance, and turn to face Allura as well. He drops his arms to his sides, having been raised for Coran’s hug. He has an urge to frown but instead he smirks. 

“Allura! Looking as stunning as ever, I see,” he says with a wink. 

“I am not in the mood for your games, Lance,” Allura snaps, shocking the other three once again. “What in the stars were you thinking?!”

“...Huh?” he eloquently says. 

Luckily that doesn't anger her even more. “I specifically told you all to do productive activities after the attack! Bond with your Lions, train, _something_ – and you go and laze about in the pool!” She makes a motion to his still wet hair and swim trunks. 

Lance starts to shake his head, trying not to grimace at her yells. “Allura, I wasn’t–.”

“Wasn’t what? Ignoring my instructions and goofing off? Pidge saw you on the cameras jumping into the pool! I expected more from you, Lance!” Her lips pursed together into a thin line. Bright blue eyes and pretty purple irises stay locked on him, unmoving and showing clearly how upset she is at him. “I am– what are you doing?”

Everyone looks to Lance, who has his hands over his ears. Coran makes the connection instantly. “Ah, auditory sensitivity! After the explosion on Arus, my ears were like that too. Everyday noises are going to bother you, and shouting definitely will cause distress. Certain pitches will be unbearable,” he rattles off the symptoms with ease, smiling as if this is normal. And maybe in their line of work it is. “Only time will heal it – a few quintants at most, I believe.”

“Why didn’t that happen to me the first time?” Lance finds himself asking, cautiously lowering his hands.

“It probably did, but you were knocked out and in the pod for so long that your ears healed by the time you woke up,” Coran explains.

“Ah. Well, lucky me,” he mumbles.

Coran doesn’t pick up on the sarcasm. Or, if he does, he ignores it. “Of course you’re lucky. You didn’t get majorly wounded this time. Come on, my boy, let me check out those cuts.”

Allura takes a step forward as Coran guides Lance to a small bed; Keith stays put. “Lance–.”

As he pats the bed for Lance to sit, Coran looks to Allura. “Has the intruder been caught yet?” he asks. 

She falters. “Oh. I have yet to hear from the others so I am assuming not,” she says. Her eyes then move to Keith but she looks away, only to do a double take. “Why aren’t you in your armor?”

While Lance sits on the infirmary’s bed and lets Coran look at the wound on his shoulder, he watches as Keith schools a panicked expression rather quickly. It’s honestly a bit impressive. Coran tells him he’s going to numb the area of the wound to put in stitches – neither his shoulder nor his knee are bad enough for a pod – and he just nods, focused on the Red Paladin. 

“Oh. I, uh, wanted to get– to make sure Lance was okay. There was a bomb, so...” Keith explains, and Lance is pretty sure Keith is blushing a little. It becomes more prominent when they make split second eye contact. Why is he blushing? Maybe it’s because he’s being put on the spot. Or something. 

“Aw, Mullet, you really do care,” Lance teases before he can stop himself.

“Shut up.” It’s heatless and Lace just smirks wider. “And it’s _not_ a mullet!” When he flinches, Keith frowns. “Shit. Sorry.”

He waves a hand, his left one. “Meh, it’s fine. Every noise is kinda bothering me, so…” 

“It might be best if you sit in silence for a bit, then,” Coran suggests, and he quickly carries on when Lance goes to complain. “I know you don’t like silence, but you’ll thank me later. And it will only be for a couple vargas at most. Just be thankful you don’t need a healing pod.”

“Well, while Coran finishes up checking on Lance, I will see if I can find the others; see whether or not they have found the intruder,” Allura says. “Keith, are you coming with me or staying with Lance?”

Keith ends up going with Allura, mostly because of Coran if anything, claiming that if Keith stays that he and Lance will only bicker, and Lance needs quiet at the moment. So, barely a few seconds later, Lance sits alone with Coran in the infirmary, getting stitched up and checked on. Coran gives him pain medicine for his ears and whatever headaches he might get. He makes sure there aren’t any other cuts they missed or major bruising. He even does an X-ray of Lance’s body just to play it safe. All in all, other than the two cuts and the auditory sensitivity thing, Lance is completely fine. Perfectly fit to leave and head for his room. 

Coran clears his throat. “Lance?”

He turns back around just a few steps away from the door. An eyebrow rises when Coran walks over and hands him a round container. “What’s that?”

“This is some scar cream, for your back,” the Altean begins to explain. “If you put it on at nighttime for three movements, it should look better. Not as...intense, I guess you could say. It unfortunately won’t go away completely – the tissue and all was too badly damaged – but it will help. It makes it mature faster, so to speak.”

“Scars mature?” Lance asks. 

“Oh, yes. As scars grow older they fade in color, flatten, and become less sensitive. The scar on your back is still pretty young even though we put you in the healing pod.”

“Huh. Thanks, Coran,” he says, taking in the information and grabbing the cream. 

“You’re welcome, my boy. I meant to give it to you a while ago, but it kept slipping my mind with everything that has happened lately.” 

“Better late than never.” Lance grins, and says thank you one more time as Coran pulls him into a hug. He finally leaves after that and heads to his room. 

When he gets there, Blue is lounging on his bed as she takes up most of the space. He scoffs at how little room there is for him, and goes to the bathroom to set the cream on the counter.

“Rude, _Azul_ ,” Lance complains, yet says nothing else even though Blue looks highly amused and pleased with herself. Typical cat. He sighs and, instead of trying to persuade her off, lays on her back. “You’re not hurt, right? From earlier?”

_“Not anymore. We heal fast.”_

“Cool. That’s good. Mind if I take a nap on you? Apparently nearly dying zaps your energy.”

_“Of course not, cub.”_

“Purr-fect.”

The rumble he gets in return feels like a laugh, and he sinks deeper into the blue and white fur. 

+++

A shocked yelp, followed by the door to his room whooshing shut, is what wakes Lance rather rudely from his nap. He scrambles to sit up only to slide off of Blue and then his bed, and onto the hard floor. He groans a the impact and stays there for a moment until he finally decides to stand, sending Hunk an annoyed look. 

“The hell, man? Not only was I having a good nap, but my ears are sensitive.” He does _not_ whine. Nope. 

Hunk at least looks apologetic. It’s also completely genuine, so Lance can’t stay upset. “Sorry, buddy. I just…wasn’t expecting to see Blue. Wow, she is _huge_.”

“That’s what she said. Or he said. No judging here.” Blue whacks him on his side with her tail and Hunk shoots him a look that says ‘disappointed but not surprised’. A reoccurring expression from others in his life. 

Lance is about to ask why Hunk came to his room when his eyes land on a certain very yellow and white Lion, black accents more prominent. She stands right at Hunk’s knee, golden eyes staring at him lazily. Where Blue is more lean and long, fit for tight turns and being in the water, Yellow has more muscle mass; a body built to move and stay put against opposite forces. He gasps. “ _Hunk_.”

“Hm? Oh, right! I can see Yellow now! Happened shortly after today’s battle when we were ambushed. I was going to tell you but then the intruder showed up – who’s dead by the way. When we caught him, he bit something in his mouth spy-movie style,” Hunk says, expression changing rapidly between talking about Yellow and then to the intruder. “Oh, _also_! Shiro can see Black, has been able to since last night. The only person who can also see Black is Keith, no surprise there, and Allura, obviously. Pidge and I can just see, like, a translucent black figure. Like a weird shadow? I dunno. I’m infodumping, I’m sorry.”

Lance laughs and shakes his head. “It’s fi–.”

Hunk points a finger at him. “Finish that, and I’m throwing your lunch away,” he threatens, which then makes Lance notice the plate of food Hunk bought and it also makes him want to laugh more because there’s no way Hunk will deny Lance food after today’s chaos. “Coran told us about your ear sensitivity thing, so I shouldn’t have done that.”

“Dude, you weren’t being that loud. It’s more of an annoyance than anything right now,” Lance assures Hunk. “But thanks for caring. I really am fine right now. I think the nap helped.”

Hunk nods quickly. “Right. Okay. You say that, but my anxiety about you nearly dying because of a bomb again doesn’t believe it.”

Lance frowns, then looks to Blue, and then Yellow before landing on Hunk again. “Would a cuddle pile help? We can do that and just talk about something else while I eat.”

He takes a moment to think, and then nods again. “It might, yeah. My moms and I used to… Wait. Oh, _that’s_ why you suggested it, duh.”

A laugh leaves Lance again. “What are best friends for?” He climbs on the bed, now free of Blue, and situates himself close to the wall. Hunk then climbs in beside him, and while Blue takes up all the space on both of their laps, Yellow lays down at the end, using one of Blue’s legs as a head prop. Neither Paladin brings up the close call with the bomb, or the ambush, or even the intruder; Lance doesn’t even bring up what happened with Allura. They just talk about the Lions, and tell funny stories they’ve definitely told before while he eats, the touching and cuddling and talking helping out Hunk’s anxiety.

They eventually fall asleep into another hour-long nap.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> azul — ‘blue’
> 
> me, starting this fic: ok this is gonna be centered around lance, blue & klance bc of who i am as a person 
> 
> hunk, appearing out of thin air: am i a joke to u
> 
> on that note, i will be writing more situations between lance & the others bc as much as i want to write about klance this is about all them getting closer as friends and a team, so. yeah! friendships & found family ftw!!
> 
> (ps if i posted either a fic where they’re both single dads, or a secret relationship/band au would u guys be interested in that, like at all? bc i’m debating on posting one or both of those eventually, maybe)


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance makes a promise to Allura, he gets teased over his ‘crush’, and an unexpected family member is remembered.

It’s not often Allura seeks Lance out. Meaning: _never_. As in, it’s never happened before. And, sure, it would be nice if it did happen more, not because she’s a beautiful Princess and Lance can’t help flirting with her sometimes, but also because hanging out for the heck of it is honestly quite fun. Well. He assumes hanging out with Allura can be fun. He seriously doesn’t mind the thought of Allura being just a friend. Flirting with her used to be a serious thing once upon a short time ago, then it became something to get reactions out of the others, and now it’s to keep things seemingly normal.

Anyway, that’s beside the point. 

Point being – Lance has been alone with Allura exactly _once_ : the first morning on the Castle after she did the fake alarm thing. She pulled him aside, explained that he can’t listen to music while sleeping anymore for very important reasons Lance doesn’t feel like repeating at the moment, and then leaving once he promised to not do it again. Since then, nothing has happened. And of course they talk to one another – they have to – it just… Never happens one on one. 

So when Allura shows up in front of his door unexpectedly, Lance is torn between feeling happy and suspicious and maybe even worried.

He doesn’t show it though. A flirty smirk stretches his lips and he opens his mouth to say an equally flirty pick-up line, arms crossing over his chest as he leans a shoulder on the frame of the door. 

Allura doesn’t let his words come out. “We are having a talk. No silly business, understand?”

Lance clamps his mouth shut. Then, “Oh.” Blue eyes take in the empty hallway when he stands straight, and he scans the doors to the others’ rooms – the ones he can see, at least. “Here? Or, do you want to come in? Like, privacy reasons…” He gestures vaguely. Her expression changes from blank yet serious to appalled, and Lance panics, suddenly realizing how that sounded, straightening his stance even more and waving his hands and arms. “Not like that! No, just, not in the hallway! I know I flirt with you but I respect boundaries! Also I know this isn’t like that, like, _at all_ , I’m not gonna try anything, I swear–.”

“Lance, it’s alright,” Allura interrupts with one hand raised. The appalled look is gone, replaced with what Lance might think as amusement but he doesn’t want to jump to conclusions. “I guess standing here is a bit, ah, awkward, is it not?”

He nods. “Yeah. That’s what I meant. I’m sorry.” Lance shuffles to the side to move out of the way so he can let Allura walk into his room.

Of course Hunk chooses that exact moment to step out of his own room, and instantly catches the tail end of the Princess stepping in. The two best friends make instant eye contact, Hunk’s jaw dropping as Lance tries to gesture to him that it isn’t whatever Hunk is thinking. 

“Pidge!” Lance hears Hunk hiss as he spins around, heading to wherever the young teen might be. 

_Great._

Lance sighs, slumping ever so slightly, and finally re-emerges in his room. The door automatically slides shut behind him. It’s a tense, awkward silence. Still, part of his teenage boy brain is freaking out about a pretty girl being in his room. 

Allura stands in the middle of the room, looking and inspecting from a distance everything Lance has accumulated so far since joining Voltron. On the desk against one of the walls, there’s an Altean tin can of pretty rocks, all in tiny ziplock bags Coran found for him, labeled the kind of rock and what planet they’re from. He started the collection out of boredom on Arus when one of the civilians gave him a flat rock as a present during the party. Next to the tin can sits a few Altean dictionaries; again, from Coran. Lance uses them to help him study their resident aliens’ language. Then his phone that unfortunately died two days into the space journey, and a few insignificant things as well. His jacket rests on the back of the desk chair. Drawings from the few kids who knew of Voltron are pinned to the wall above the desk. A few clothes litter the floor, and the closet is opened an inch or so, showing whatever clothes Lance found over the last couple of months. 

Allura eyes the closet, seeming to look as closely as she can without moving. “You found some old clothing,” she notes. “I’m surprised they didn’t get ruined over time.”

Lance kicks his shoes closer to the bed so neither of them can accidentally trip over them. “They're all in pretty good shape, actually, it kinda surprised me. Um, sorry for just...taking some without asking, I probably shouldn’t have done that. But I needed clothes other than the ones I came in, and I know there’s that thing that duplicates our things, but, uh. Yeah.” He rubs the back of his neck, nervous and feeling out of place. Words could have kept spilling from his lips, but Lance stops himself before that can happen. He wants to make a joke, or flirt, or do something stupid to get rid of the weird atmosphere of Allura being in his room, but he doesn’t want to make her mad in any way so, still, he doesn’t anything more.

“No, it’s fine. Coran and I were thinking about distributing the clothes between you Paladins anyway. They should still at least get some use,” she tells him. The words end oddly, as if she had other things to add on yet kept herself from doing so. Probably something about Alteans.

All he can do is nod for a second time. “So…”

Allura blinks. Her face becomes serious again, though this time she looks almost embarrassed. “Right, of course. Coran talked to me about how I acted to you this morning after the intruder. I… I should not have yelled at you so abruptly, and not just because of the auditory sensitivity. I’m sorry about that.”

It’s Lance’s turn to blink. To say he’s surprised is an understatement. “...Oh.” He clears his throat. “I mean. I forgive you, Allura. I can understand why you got upset, it seems like I’m not taking this seriously–.”

“ _Seems_ like?” Allura repeated incredulously, brows lowering. 

“Yes,” he stresses. “Look, I know I’m the resident goofball, Princess, but I can be serious! I wasn’t… I love Blue, okay? I want our bond to be strong, trust me, so I thought being in her element might help with that. She’s the Guardian Spirit of Water, after all.”

“That… That makes sense, actually,” she says slowly. The fire in her eyes dies, and she looks away from him, thinking and clearly not having expected that from him. Which, yeah, kinda stings, but he’ll ignore that for now. “Well, I was going to restrict your pool time because of that, but if being in her element, as you say, helps with the bond I can’t do that. But you have to promise me that you will not goof off.” _Aaand_ she’s back to being serious again. 

“I promise, Allura. You can trust me.” A thought then occurs to him as Allura smiles at that. “Hey, uh, why was Pidge watching me on the cameras anyway?” It’s not that he’s surprised by it, per se; Pidge snooping on the cameras sounds like a very Pidge-like thing to do. It’s more so that he’s pretty sure the others were probably doing much more interesting things.

Confusion first shows on her face first, then understanding. “Oh! She got done with Green’s mecha pretty early, so she was helping me out by making sure that there was no technological damage on the Castle Ship after the ambush.”

Lance nods. “Makes sense.”

Allura hums, agreeing. “Well, I should get going – Coran’s on my case about how much sleep I get so he wants me to take a nap, but I still have _a lot_ of work to do.” Allura rolls her eyes in such a teenage fashion that it takes Lance by surprise. It doesn’t help that right after, just as she’s leaving, she turns back around and is Serious Princess Mode again. “You better not break your promise, Lance.” He doesn’t get a chance to respond or assure her in any way that he won’t break the promise, because she leaves immediately after, door whooshing open and shut. 

There are about five seconds of silence before Lance hears two pairs of footsteps out in the hallway, getting closer with every running stride. Before Lance knows it, both Hunk and Pidge barge in as well as they can with a door that slides open. It’s clearly not as dramatic as either Paladin wants it to be, but oh well.

“So, you have game after all,” teases Pidge with a smirk. “I am both impressed and really fucking shocked.”

“Dude, what the heck!” Hunk exclaims and pushes himself into the room the rest of the way. Pidge does the same, slamming the button to close the door quicker. “How did you get your crush into your room?!”

“ _Dios mío_ , guys, nothing happened!” Lance’s face is hot with the embarrassment of even thinking along the lines of whatever Hunk and Pidge are suggesting. It certainly doesn’t help his case, he knows, but he can’t help it. He’s a flirt, sure, but the mere suggestion of someone flirting back or even having someone give the slightest bit of anything close to romantic interest in him makes him flustered. 

Marco and Luis always say he can give it but not take it, the bastards. Maybe they’re right. 

It certainly doesn’t help that Hunk said “crush” and Lance’s mind supplies him with Keith’s face, not Allura’s.

Pidge’s smirk grows tenfold. “Uh-huh, sure. You’re blushing, Lance.”

He waves his arms and hands. Words become harder to form because of the embarrassment. “Because of what you guys are suggesting!” His voice raises an octave, and it cracks ever so slightly. “Nothing happened! We just talked!”

Always the one for gossip, Hunk gasps and claps his hands together. “Oooh, what about?”

“Her yelling at me for being at the pool this morning.”

The atmosphere shifts from teasing to, once again, awkward. 

Hunk winced. “...Ah.”

Pidge shifts on her feet and messes with her glasses. “That’s kinda my fault.”

With a shrug, Lance stuffs his hands into his pants’ pockets. “Meh, it’s fine.”

“But you were goofing around,” she adds. The gleam in her eyes tells him she said it only to get a reaction from him. A classic little sibling tactic he’s used far too often. 

Admirable, he’ll admit. Even so, he has half a mind to punt the little gremlin. It’s like having Claudia back. 

That little realization almost has him gasping. He hasn’t been reminded about Claudia like that in...a while. 

“Is that really all Allura came to talk to you about?” asks Hunk. His voice effectively breaksLance away from his thoughts. Pidge groans quietly in disappointment when she didn’t get the reaction from Lance she wanted. 

“Basically. It was kinda awkward at first, not gonna lie.”

“Ooh, did you have that ‘pretty girl in my room’ panic?”

“Definitely, man, but it lasted like three seconds because the awkwardness was worse.”

Hunk takes in a breath of air through clenched teeth. “Yikes.”

“Ugh, _boys_ ,” Pidge complains. 

“Ugh, _pigeons_ ,” Lance mocks.

“Ugh, _don’t start_ ,” Hunk pleads.

Both Lance and Pidge laugh, the former staying quieter than usual. The loudness of Pidge’s laugh made him wince – barely, but still noticeable. 

“Fuck, sorry, Lance,” Pidge quickly apologizes when she sees that he’s got a hand up to one of his ears. 

“It’s fine,” is on the tip of his tongue but it dies out before he can even say it when he catches Hunk’s eyes. Lance sighs. “I’ll be okay,” he tells her instead with what he hopes is an assuring smile. “I took some medicine Coran gave me, like, thirty minutes ago, so it’s not as bad as it could be. Oh, hey, speaking of that – kinda – how did the Galra even get in here? I’m assuming it was a Galra soldier, it makes sense.”

“The ambush,” Pidge explains with Hunk nodding beside her. “And _yeah_ , it was a Galra. Who the fuck else would it have been? Anyway, during the meeting Allura and Shiro called–.”

“Woah, wait, what meeting?” Lance interrupts, hands waving in the air again.

Hunk gasps and places his hands on his cheeks. “Oh no, I completely forgot to tell you!” he whines quietly. Guilt covers his features instantaneously. 

“It was during when Coran sent you off to your room after he checked on you,” says Pidge, much less worried about having not told Lance about the meeting. “We all decided it was better if you didn’t come, considering you got caught up in a bomb. Again.” Her bright hazel eyes narrow and the corners of her mouth dip down, as if she’s annoyed by the fact. And maybe she is. Or, maybe _annoyed_ isn't the right word.

“Pidge, you don’t need to worry about me,” he says with the barest hint of teasing. “I’m okay.”

She scoffs and crosses her arms. “I’m not worried about you. I know you’re okay. You’re breathing, aren’t you?”

Hunk and Lance share a quick look, then he focuses his attention back on her and hip checks her. “Yeah, I am,” he agrees, and then walks over to sit on his bed. “So, how’d the meeting go?”

“We figured out the soldier must’ve snuck in while we were off of the Castle Ship in our Lions,” Hunk speaks up. “It’s the only thing that makes sense.”

“Plus I found some wonky footage on the cameras, like some sort of loop? It wasn’t _that_ good of one, really, but it was good enough to not alarm Coran while he helped out Allura here while we fought. They clearly stayed and crawled around in the vents until they decided to attack.”

“And that’s when I almost got blown up,” Lance adds. 

Hunk grimaces as he nods. “Yup…” He lets out a breath of air. “I’m so glad you’re okay, man.”

“I mean, I _guess_ I’m happy about that too,” the youngest mumbles.

Lance grins at them both. “Love you too, guys.”

+++

The rest of that night goes on in a pretty mundane manner. Nothing exciting happens and the seventeen year old is basically left to his own devices. Lance is unable to do a last minute training session with the others. Coran advises him not to because he doesn’t want the auditory sensitivity to give him too much trouble and Shiro agrees, deeming it best that Lance doesn’t train with them until he’s for sure 100%. Allura says nothing else of what happened, Keith sends him one worried look during the one time they saw each other during the day, and Lance spends the remainder of his night milking Kaltenecker with Blue laying nearby after he escapes Hunk’s worried clutches for a second time.

As he does the proper steps to do milk Kaltenecker – who knew his _abuelos_ ’ family farm, and having lived on said farm for half of his life would help him in space? – he’s, for once, quiet. He doesn’t pester Blue to tell him about the original Voltron Paladins, or anything of the sort. He keeps whatever jokes and puns that come to mind to himself, and mostly stays focused on the task at hand. After letting his mind wonder for a bit of time, he begins to think about how he should probably tell Allura of his little secret hiding plan. It _would_ be best. After all, she can see the Lions no matter what – he still doesn’t completely understand that, but oh well – and her walking in on Lance with a rather, to her, suddenly large Blue Lion can go multiple different ways. 

For some god forsaken reason Lance’s mind is currently only pulling up the _bad_ scenarios. The ones where Allura is furious. Or, ones where she’s utterly flabbergasted (and not in a good way) because, _Lance_? Seriously? Their goofball has a strong bond with a Lion? Or scenarios where Lance tells her and she doesn’t believe him. The insecurities about telling Allura the truth are attacking him full force in the moment, and thus by the time he’s done milking the abducted cow from his home planet the Blue Paladin concludes that he can’t tell Allura.

Lance should probably talk to Hunk about this. 

Lance decides not to do _that_ , either. 

Insecurities and old anxieties start to eat him up inside, but Blue’s comforting presence in person and in his mind softens all the blows significantly while he takes the milk to the kitchen. Lance sighs and leans into Blue a bit as they walk. A silent thank you. Blue sends a ‘you are welcome’ and tells her Paladin about earlier in the day where the mice rode on Yellow, screaming in both fear and excitement as she chased the other Lion. She includes images in his mind as well, finally earning some laughter from him.

He wonders if Yellow has told Hunk about the mice. 

_‘Are you homesick again, cub?’_ She asks the question just as Lance puts the jugs of milk in the fridge. He’ll be sure to make milkshakes for everyone on another day. 

“ _Sí y no_ ,” he responds albeit hesitantly once he processes the question. It somewhat catches him off guard, but he had a feeling the question would come up sooner or later. He’s just surprised it isn’t about how down he started to feel as he milked Kaltenecker. “ _Yo solo… Me acordé de alguien._ ” He pauses again, crossing his arms and leaning his back against the fridge’s door. “I’ve been a bit off since then.”

Blue’s hum is soft in his mind. ‘ _May I ask who?’_ She rubs her head against his shoulder. It’s a surprisingly comforting gesture. What’s also comforting is that he doesn’t have to translate anything when he speaks Spanish. It probably has something to do with the Lion-Paladin bond.

But even with those two small comforts, an uneasy debate instantly sets off in his mind. Talking about _her_ always hurts, and he hasn’t exactly uttered her name in a good couple years unless he’s with his Mama. Hell, he even deliberately tries to not even think about her unless he wants to drown in sorrow, guilt and anger. And usually he doesn’t. Though lately, ever since they left Earth, what happened does pop up in his mind more than usual. But ever since Pidge accidentally reminded him of her, she wouldn’t leave his mind no matter what. Mix that in with the insecurities, and there’s a bunch of feelings swarming inside of Lance. 

“ _Mi hermanita_ ,” he eventually whispers.

_‘Rachel?’_

“No, uh… Another one. Besides Rachel isn’t exactly _mi hermanita_ to me. Guess it’s a twin thing. Anyway. It’s- she’s hard to talk about, _Azul_. So, can we, like, not?” 

Lance gets a vibe that Blue doesn’t want to drop it. But she does. ‘ _...Of course._ ’

“Thanks, _Azul_.” Then adds, “Maybe another day.”

 _‘No need to rush telling me,’_ Blue says. _‘Indeed, I do want you to talk about it eventually, but losing others you love is hard. Speaking of them can be harder.’_

“Is that why you don’t talk about the Paladin before me?”

 _‘Yes and no,’_ she echoes those three words from earlier. _‘I have spoken of him before in the stories I tell you… It is our job to know about our Paladins as well as they know about us. The bond is a sacred two-way street: the Paladins learn about us, we learn about the Paladins, and we grow together. After all, our quintessence weaves together where, to those who can see it, essentially become one._

 _‘As your Lion, I know you, Leandro–’_ he takes a sharp breath of air, not expecting his actual first name to come out of Blue _‘–and therefore I know that if I tell you too much too soon, that you will negatively compare yourself to Blatyz. Despite being similar in many ways, you are both vastly different and should not be compared in such ways.’_

Lance blinks, head tilting at the protective tone Blue’s voice adopted at the end. “Why does it sound like you’re throwing shade at someone?”

 _‘I know not of what you mean by ‘throwing shade’, but if you must know, the Princess compares you and your team to the Paladins of Old far too much for my liking.’_ Her ears and tail twitch in obvious annoyance as she sits beside him, back straight, chin held high. The golden eyes hide nothing about her current feelings.

His lips curl into an amused smile and he chuckles. In a way to hopefully get her to relax again, Lance wraps his arms around her neck and leans into her. “Aw, Baby Blue, it’s alright. Yeah I get insecure sometimes, but that just means I need extra reassurance once in a while. Unfortunately there’s not much we can do about Allura, is there? I mean, think about it, she knew the Paladins of Old, right? Somehow, at least,” Lance says and Blue gives a soft rumble of affirmation. “To her, they… It’s only been a few months for her. Not ten thousand years. She’s still going through the process of mourning everyone she lost, Blue.

“I’m not saying comparing us new guys to the old ones is right. I’m just saying there’s a plausible reason for it. It doesn’t excuse her actions, but it does explain them, so…” He trails off and shrugs. “I don’t exactly blame her for doing it.” He doesn’t include that it still kind of stings. Blue probably already knows, anyway. 

_‘Hm. You are right, I suppose…’_

Lance preens. “Of course, I am!”

 _‘I still do not like it, though.’_

He laughs. “That’s alright. I trust you to defend my honor if she gets too far out of line. Now, let’s go to bed, _chica bella_. It’s been a long day.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dios mío – My god  
> Sí y no – Yes and no  
> Yo solo... Me acordé de alguien – I just... I remembered someone  
> Mi hermanita – My little sister  
> Azul – Blue  
> chica bella – beautiful girl
> 
> if anything’s wrong with the spanish, please tell me! 
> 
> and yes, i gave Lance a little sister because why not. she (Claudia) will just be mentioned in this fic maybe once or twice, but she’ll get more important as a character later on in the series!!


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ulaz dies, everyone is tense, and Keith brings Lance a spork.

Things go on relatively normal after the day the bomb and intruder happened. That is, as normal as fighting an intergalactic space war against an evil, purple alien race can be. As usual, the five Paladins work on their bonds as both a team and with their Lions. They train, answer distress signals, fight against the Galra when needed, Allura and Coran readies then for diplomatic meetings with other planets – because apparently they all need help in that regard and as boring as it is, Lance can’t lie and say they’re particularly _good_ at that part – and sleep whenever, wherever, they can. Being a soldier in a 10,000 long war is exhausting.

Lance’s auditory sensitivity goes away rather quickly. Barely two days later, it doesn’t bother him anymore. That doesn’t mean he’s home free, though. He can’t do too many activities when training with everyone because of the stitches on the side of his knee, unfortunately. He tried once. The stitches tore. Hunk nearly fainted. So, Coran and Shiro then order him to do less. At least no one is overly cautious with the hearing thing anymore. 

Another intruder breaks into the Castleship – “ _That’s it_! I’m making this security better!” Pidge shouts as they all get ready to chase after them, and Coran’s only input is that at least he saw the warning this time – and, of fucking course it’s another Galra. Apparently a good Galra, though, because also apparently this Ulaz guy helped Shiro escape, and he’s _also_ _apparently_ with a rebel Galra force that goes by the name of ‘The Blade of Marmora’. Everyone’s wary of the pale purple alien, but with Shiro confirming that Ulaz helped him back when he had been held captive, the team can’t do anything but trust them both. 

Everything kind of gets solidified in the ‘Ulaz is a good guy’ argument when he sacrifices himself against a robo-beast in a large explosion. 

It kinda makes Lance queasy – the knowing someone literally just died for them part. 

No one bothers Shiro when they get back back to the Castleship once it’s safe again. Lance isn’t even completely sure he even exits Black’s hangar. Besides, they’re all a bit shaken up after what Ulaz has done – even Keith. Pidge disappears to...somewhere; probably to work on the bajillion projects she’s got on her shoulders, but who actually knows where she’s doing that at. It’s always up in air if she’s actually in her lab or not. Hunk heads for either the kitchen or his room, and Lance nearly follows him to find out until he spots Keith leaning on the wall by Red’s hangar door. He’s just staring at his hand, intently, as if it’s about to do something without commanding it on his own. 

Lance waltzes on over immediately, not thinking at all of the possible consequences. “Hey, Mullet!”

“What, Lance?” Keith bites out. 

He holds up his hands placatingly. “Chill out, dude, no need to figuratively bite my head off. Just checking to see if you’re alright. You’re, like, staring at your hand there pretty hard. Gonna shoot some laser vision on yourself, or what?”

Keith’s hand balls into a fist and he puts it behind his back in a flash. It causes Lance’s eyebrows to rise; he's not gonna lie, that’s weird. What’s not weird is the piercing dagger-like glare Keith shoots at him. It’s relatively normal and Lance barely bats an eye at the expression. “None of your business. I’m perfectly fine, now leave me alone,” Keith tells him. 

_Heck yeah, you’re perfectly fine._ Blue’s laughter is heard in his head after that, and Lance prays that he isn’t blushing. “Really? A guy just sacrificed himself for our team, and you’re okay?” Lance questions. 

“It’s war, Lance, these types of things happen. It’s nothing to get too bent out of shape for.” It’s paired with an eye roll. “I’m surprised it hasn’t happened sooner.”

“Almost did,” Lance mumbles quietly to himself. 

But not quiet enough if Keith’s head jerking to look at him properly is anything to go by. 

And then, something clicked. 

A bitter, hurtful click.

“Hold up– Wait, so, you’re saying that if I had died protecting Coran, that you wouldn’t have cared,” Lance inquires. It comes out more defensive and hurt than he means it to. He doesn’t know what he meant to aim for, but actually showing that it hurt his feelings isn’t it.

Keith’s purple eyes widen. He fumbles for words, mouth opening and closing as if he’s a fish out of water. 

Maybe if Lance’s feelings weren’t so suddenly hurt then he'd laugh at the reaction. Instead, Lance can feel himself growing more defensive as the seconds tick by, the tension growing. The two Paladins haven’t had a serious argument in a while. “I know we’re rivals or whatever, but I didn’t think you didn’t care about me that much.”

“No, that’s not–.”

“Not _what_?” seethes Lance. “Not serious enough? Not _important_ enough?”

“Shut the fuck up, Lance, that isn’t what I meant!” Keith finally finds his voice and words, and _of course_ it’s used to shout at the Blue Paladin. 

“Then what, pray tell, the fuck did you mean?! Because it sounds like you wouldn’t care if I died like Ulaz, and _newsflash asshole_! That nearly happened _twice_!”

Of course that’s when Shiro decides to exit Black’s hangar. It happens at the tail end of Keith’s outburst, and the man stays silent throughout Lance’s, neither teen noticing their team leader. 

“I know it happened twice, asshole, I was there after both times!” 

“Right, like that _obviously_ means you care.” The sarcasm is so thick that even Lance himself is a bit surprised by it. “But, I mean, this is war, _Keith_ ,” he bitterly mocks, “It's nothing to get bent out of shape for.” 

With those words, it seems to click into place for Keith how badly he hurt Lance’s feelings because his face crumples a little bit. He opens his mouth – to apologize, to shout some more, Lance doesn’t know and he frankly doesn’t care – but Keith doesn’t get to say anything. Lance usually is quick to accept apologies, and to calm down and have things settle, but sometimes he’s not. Sometimes Lance rides in the moment of being angry for however long it lasts because it’s easier. It happened more often than not with his brothers and sisters more than anything, or peers who piss him off to an alarming degree. And now it’s with Keith, who both simultaneously hurt Lance’s feelings and pissed him off. So, he doesn’t give Keith a chance to respond. 

“You’re a fucking dickhead, Kogane,” he bites out and turns on his heels, leaving before Keith can say or do anything to stop him. He’s pretty sure he hears Shiro call out for him though, but Lance ignores him. 

+++

So. Lance has an insecurity problem. Shocking, right? Lance McClain, flirt extraordinaire, “I’m better than my rival at everything under the sun,” peacock of a human is _insecure_. (And curse his sisters for making his mind automatically sing that One Direction song after that one single word.) But it’s the truth. The bravado thing is something he’s made up to get through life. “Fake it ‘till you make it,” used to be his motto at the beginning of his teenage years. Luckily enough for him, over time and with his family and best friend helping him out, the insecurities dwindled. 

A lot of Lance’s bravado became natural, eventually. More real. He knows how to naturally charm a girl or guy without overthinking it. He knows what he’s good at, and what he’s not. He knows he can be annoying but people won’t automatically hate him for it. Well, sometimes he does. The insecurities haven’t all gone away. In fact, once he got bumped to Fighter Pilot a lot of them came back thanks to Iverson and some others constantly comparing him to Keith. 

( _Dios mio_ , why does it always come back to Keith?!)

Even then, things gradually started to get better. 

And then he got shot into space with four others. A beautiful Princess can’t seem to believe he’s anything other than a goofball, and Pidge calls him annoying way too often and every so often goes too far with teasing, and Shiro reprimands him like a tired dad rather than a leader, and Keith… Well, Lance gets the feeling Keith might as well hate him after _that_ conversation. Or argument. Yelling match, more like. Hunk is the only one who knows how to not accidentally make Lance feel like shit, and to tell Lance that he needs his own space for a bit without making his best friend feel bad. Sometimes it doesn’t work as well as either of them want. 

(Lance actually asked a professional at the Garrison about this once – about how he sometimes reacts too sensitively about others’ teasing and rejection and overall criticism of himself, especially when no one is serious about it – and apparently it’s a thing called ‘rejection sensitive dysphoria’ that somehow correlates to his ADHD. So. That’s fun.)

Then there’s Coran. He’s pretty cool. Like a crazy Space Uncle. He’s never looked down at him and for that Lance is eternally grateful. 

All of that to say, his insecurities have snuck back without him noticing. Hunk had asked if keeping the knowledge of seeing Blue was an insecurity thing, and Lance answers that it wasn’t. Now, however, Lance is starting to realize that maybe it had been a subconscious thing that he didn’t realize those couple of weeks ago. 

What happened with Keith certainly isn’t helping anything.

Lance hadn’t wanted to fight with Keith – he wanted to play it off, maybe make some sort of teasing joke out of it. That obviously didn’t happen. Unable to control his emotions like a normal human being, he instead shouted. 

(Though, maybe that _is_ a normal reaction to getting the impression your teammate wouldn’t care if you died.)

Lance groans at remembering, hating what was said and how it happened. He just wanted to check on Keith, who then somehow reacts to that as hurting Lance’s feelings – most likely accidentally, Lance is giving him the benefit of the doubt. He presses the heels of his hands on his eyes as tears of anger and hurt pool hotly while he speedwalks down the hall. It’s one thing with just the fight with Keith; it’s a completely other thing when you add in the fact that he’s not as confident in himself as he originally thought.

Doing his best to stay put together for the time being, Lance hurries I’m through the Castle and heads for the observatory he found. 

Hopefully he can have a cry session to Blue and feel better. 

+++

Lance does _not_ feel better.

Well. That’s a tiny lie – the crying helps, but only a little bit. It might have helped a lot more if Lance decided to leave the observatory and do whatever chores Coran might have to keep his mind occupied, but instead he stayed, which allowed his nonstop train of thought go absolutely haywire in a negative way. Three hours later and Lance feels like crap. In that time, Blue has tried to cheer him up but Lance is adamantly stuck on being angry and upset for now, so that doesn’t go quite as well as the Lion hopes. 

Dinner isn’t much better and it doesn’t help either. All in all, it’s tense, to say the least. And that’s saying something, since Hunk’s food is usually a mood lifter – especially compared to Coran’s.

Keith attempts to speak to Lance, but he ignores the Red Paladin to the best of his abilities and instead starts a conversation with Pidge once everyone has a plate of food, and she brings up that she can finally see Green. 

“Yeah, I was working on figuring out everything for the Caste Ship Time and all – which is almost done, by the way, and also I’m close to figuring out what day it is for us on Earth time – and she just _appears_!” Pidge’s eyes aren’t wide with excitement, her smile large. She also looks a bit more rested than usual, despite the day’s earlier battle. “ _Beside_ me! She’s not that big, maybe about to my knee, but it’s still so cool!”

“That’s fantastic, Pidge!” Lance’s smile is a little genuine, although he still has to fake some of it. Force it to go larger to make it completely believable. 

“I know! And, like, there has to be some sound science behind this, so she said she’ll help me with that, too!” 

“Oh, can I join you for that? I’m honestly curious with how this all works,” says Hunk. “I asked Yellow some things but not everything makes complete sense.”

Pidge starts nodding even before Hunk is finished. “Of course, dude, that’ll be so much fun.”

“Yes! When do we start?”

“Tonight!”

“Tomorrow,” Shiro corrects. It’s clear he’s a bit down since Ulaz – it’s only been mere hours, of course he still is – but it hasn’t affected him enough to still be a leader. He just looks...sad, if Lance is being honest. And that’s to be expected. “After dinner Allura wants to go over our overall progress with the Lions, and then I want you guys to try to get a full eight hours of sleep.”

Pidge groans. “Ugh, _fine_. Tomorrow, it is.” She pauses, letting her eyes shift over to Keith and Lance, the latter of who slows his chewing as she gets a certain look in her eyes. “Huh. You two are the last ones to see the Lions. I’d say I’m surprised but that’d be a half-lie, because that’s mostly just about Keith and Red.”

Lance stuffs another bite of food into his mouth. 

Hunk makes a noise at the back of his throat. “Really? Keith had trouble with Red. Lance and Blue… It was with no trouble at all – he just knocked on her barrier and it fell.”

Her nose wrinkles a bit, thinking the other’s words over. “Hm… Yeah, you’re right, I guess, but I see Keith with Red’s mecha, like, a lot.”

“Same with Lance. Just because you don’t see it doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen.” Hunk’s tone is defensive, protective; not much at all to raise the other’s suspicion, though. It’s something only a person can tell if they’ve known Hunk long enough, and Lance has, which is why only he picks up on it. They make eye contact for a split second and share a smile.

“Keith and Lance are also right here,” Keith grumbles out as an attempt to interrupt Pidge. It doesn’t work. 

“Okay, yeah, but has Allura needed to remind Keith about the bond thing? _No_. Lance hasn’t been taking this too seriously, you don’t need to defend him just because you’re best friends, Hunk.”

“I do when I know things you don’t.”

 _Oh snap._ Lance’s jaw automatically drops. Keith’s “well shit” is said quietly that even Lance almost doesn’t hear it, but he does. Shiro and the Alteans are sharing concerned glances back and forth, wondering if and when they should interrupt.

Pidge reels back slightly. “What the fuck is _that_ supposed to mean?”

Hunk shrugs, as casual as can be, and takes a sip of his drink. “It means don’t vaguely talk negatively abou my best friend when I’m around. I love you, Pidge, but Lance _has_ been bonding with Blue. And sure he sometimes needs to be reminded of things but that doesn’t make what he has with Blue weaker than anyone else’s bond with their Lion. Besides, it’s not a competition.”

She fumbles with her words. “I– well, yeah, I mean, I wasn’t… I wasn’t gonna rub it in his face!” she protests. At Hunk’s raised brows, she shrinks back. “Okay, maybe I was gonna do it a little bit… But only because I know he’s gonna do it with Keith when he sees Blue!”

“No I won’t,” Lance speaks before Pidge can continue and before Hunk can defend him. It earns him confused expressions on all fronts. It makes him sigh and refrain from rolling his eyes. “The bonds are emotionally driven things, right? And some people are easier with emotions than others, which affects the growth of the bonds, and in case you haven’t noticed, our resident asshole over here isn’t exactly good with any except for anger. They’re…sensitive things. So I’m not gonna be a dick about it.”

“...Oh,” Pidge whispers.

Shiro smiles. “That’s actually mature of you, Lance. But please – _language_ , all of you.”

Lance beams. He just got praised, kinda, by his former hero! And, okay, maybe it shouldn’t matter that much, but he still looks up to Shiro. It lifts his mood a little bit more.

“We’re soldiers in a _war_!” Pidge yells, slamming her hands on the table. “I think we should cuss to our hearts’ desires, Shiro!”

“She has a point,” mumbles Hunk.

Shiro merely heaves a tired sigh. “I understand, but–.”

“Hey.”

Lance frowns at the whisper, which is paired with a pointy elbow in his side. He sends Keith a side glare and not-so-subtly scoots his chair a few inches away from him. Consider his mood dropped once again.

“Lance,” Keith tries, still whispering as Shiro and Pidge go back and forth about the cussing thing with Hunk occasionally putting in his own input. Lance ignores him, glowering at his food and poking at some jello looking stuff with his spork. He thinks Hunk had meant to make mac and cheese. “C’mon, Lance, please. I just…”

He finally looks at Keith, making sure to make eye contact. Then, without saying a word, Lance pushes his plate to the other side of him, stands, and moves down a seat. Keith’s lips part in shock but it’s quickly replaced with his usual broody expression times ten. 

“What the hell, man?!” Keith shouts, hands raising in indignation. It makes Shiro’s and Pidge’s conversation come to a halt.

Allura sighs from her spot, the others now looking at them in curiosity. “Lance stop antagonizing Keith, please. It’d be wonderful if we can actually have one dinner without you starting something.”

Lance’s anger fluxuates from growing into anger to dissipating into hurt again during the following few seconds. For once, Lance is trying to not start anything with Keith, because he knows if he does another fight will break out. He’s trying not to add to the tenseness of the dinner. He then notices that even Keith looks taken back, and Shiro seems vaguely confused from where he sits. “Allura, I wasn’t–.”

“Don’t lie to me, Lance, it’s what you always do. Please just leave him alone this time,” Allura tells him. She’s annoyed, if her tone is anything to go by, and Lance is having that familiar feeling of being wrongly called out by a teacher in class. “None of us are in the mood for it.”

“Allura it actually wasn’t–,” Keith tries, Lance will give him credit for that, but she still sends him an exasperated expression that makes him stop talking immediately.

“Uh.” Hunk shifts in his seat as multiple pairs of eyes turn to him. He awkwardly clears his throat and looks at Allura, who merely holds up her hand to silence Hunk even before he can speak proper words. 

“Hunk, please. Any other day, maybe, and I might possibly let this slide, but that is not the case. Between a…a _Galra_ –,” Lance acts as if he doesn’t see Keith tense up at the Princess’ disgustedly angry tone, “–infiltrating the Castle again and the events that followed, I am not in the mood to put up with your antics.”

 _Your_ antics. She can very well be speaking of the others as a whole, because quite frankly sometimes Pidge and Hunk _do_ egg on Keith and Lance, especially when their arguments aren’t so serious. And she might have been talking about Hunk’s and Pidge’s little quarrel, or even Shiro’s and Pidge’s talk, but… But Lance can’t help but feel that she’s singling him out. 

“Allura,” Shiro chastises. (Lance faintly hears, “Dad mode: activated,” from Pidge but he barely registers the words). Even Coran looks a bit miffed. “You’re stressed and in a bad mood, but that doesn’t mean you get to jump to conclusions. This day hasn’t been easy on any of us.”

“Jump to– I did no such thing!”

“My dear, I do believe you did,” says Coran calmly, although there’s an edge to it. “Lance moved down seats – _away_ from Keith.”

Allura sputters. “What! No, Lance always starts the fights,” she argues. It reminds Lance of Veronica or Rachel or, _hell_ , any of his siblings trying to pin the blame on him or someone else. Any other day and it might’ve made Lance smile because, hey, they’re kind of turning into their own little family, aren’t they? Right now, it just stings. 

Allura really doesn’t see him like the others, does she? It makes him question if she meant her apology the other day.

The situation just makes Lance’s mood sour even more. He tears his gaze away from the only two adults and the Princess, and instead stares intently at his food. Through their bond, Blue nudges him in his mind and purrs in a way to hopefully comfort. It works a little bit, if Lance wants to be honest. He absentmindedly pokes his food with his spork while he focuses on Blue in his mind; he hopes it can distract him enough to get through this hell of a dinner while Coran and Shiro try to talk some sense into Allura. 

“Allura, listen–.”

“I am not wrong about this!”

It doesn’t. 

At her words, Lance drops the spork with a clatter and lifts his head to finally meet her eyes. A slew of words sits on the tip of his tongue, ready to be spewed out in an eruption-like frustration, but he bites them back. He lets waves and waves of emotion crash inside him, because that’s all he can do as he thinks of something to say that doesn’t make the tense dinner worse. He works his jaw, still thinking. Then, turning his head to look at Hunk, “I’m taking this to my room.”

Hunk just nods, almost gratefully. “I’ll bring you dessert later if you want.”

Lance returns the nod and leaves, plate in hand. 

+++

It’s not until he’s back in the observatory when Lance realizes that one: he completely bypassed his room, and two: he forgot the spork. With a groan just as the door whooshes shut behind him, Lance falls back to lean against the wall – only to yelp when there’s a beep of a button being pressed, the dark grey metal of the floor opening up in the middle. 

The first instinct is to panic and run, to not be sucked into the vastness of space like he almost was that one time when the Castle had a malfunction. Then he realizes that oxygen and air isn’t being sucked out of the Castle. The grey flooring continues to retract until it stops about a foot away from the edge of the walls, revealing a glass floor similar to the large window on the other side of the room. Staring wide eyed and agape, Lance stares starstruck – _heh_ – at the cosmos below the Castle. He hasn’t turned on the lights of the room yet – something he rarely does in the first place so he can stargaze easier when in the observatory – so the light of the stars fill up the room. 

Correction: the light of a _galaxy_ brightens up the room. It’s far away from the Castle, and from the position they’re in the spiral galaxy appears to be slanted towards them yet on it’s side. Most of it is below the floor, but part of the galaxy can be seen out of the wall window too. Carefully, Lance sets the plate down on the remaining small space of grey flooring near the wall, then cautiously steps onto the glass. Lance’s steps become more confident when he’s sure he won’t suddenly fall through. He gets to the middle of the room before he stops. Awestruck and in disbelief of what he’s seeing around him, Lance’s sour and downtrodden mood is forgotten in favor of taking in the galaxy and the room’s recent development.

Of course that’s when the door slid open. 

“Before you yell at me, just– _oh_.”

Lance spins around, shoes squeaking slightly on the glass. There stands Keith. The artificial light of the hallway illuminates him from behind, and the starlight shines through the glass and onto his body. Lance tries not to notice how Keith’s eyes look shinier because of it.

Silence fills the air. Lance does nothing but stuff his hands in his pockets and watches Keith, waiting for him to continue. Only, Keith doesn’t. He just stares, mouth parted slightly, eyes roaming around the stars and landing on Lance. When they make eye contact, Keith jolts a bit and looks away, clearing his throat. Lance gives an awkward cough and scratches lightly at his cheek, wishing that that one little action didn’t make him blush so easily.

Finally, he regains himself. “So, are you here to make me feel bad again, Mullet, or– hold on, did you _follow me_?”

Keith’s eyes widen, almost looking like a deer caught in headlights. “Uh… You left your spork.” He then holds up said utensil, stiff and awkward. At least neither of them are yelling. For now.

Lance’s eyes narrow some. “Right,” he mumbles. 

The one word is enough for Keith to move again. He steps into the room, which finally lets the door close behind him, and he only barely falters when the room suddenly becomes darker, only the stars and the galaxy lighting up the room once again. Lance takes only a couple steps forward and takes the spork when they’re close enough. The atmosphere doesn’t change – it stays awkward and tense, and Lance fights off the urge to ramble, to fill the silence. Instead, he goes over to where he set his plate down and picks it up. He eyes the door, debates on bolting, and only turns around when he realizes Keith hasn’t left yet. That’s probably a good thing. Maybe. 

“Um.” Keith starts but stops. His shoulders are tense, and his arms are crossed over his chest, feet occasionally shifting on the glass floor. “Can– Are we gonna talk?”

Lance pokes the food with the spork. He shrugs and then walks back over to where he had been standing, and promptly sits down. “I mean… You’re the one who followed me, Keith. So are we? Because I came here to eat dinner without being yelled at.”

Keith sighs and moves to sit as well. There’s probably about a foot of space between them, and Lance either watches the spiral galaxy or his food to keep himself from turning his head to stare at the other boy doused in starlight. “I… I’m not good at, uh, words and… Feelings. And stuff,” mutters Keith, stiff as ever. 

Lance gives out a small huff of laughter but there’s nothing remotely humorous in the sound. Bitter, if anything. “Yeah, no shit, dickhead.”

“But I’m trying right now,” he continues, the words more confident than the former ones. “I have been since dinner started.”

“And look how well _that_ turned out.” A sharp pain erupts on the tip of his right ear, and Lance yelps. One hand is quick to cover it as he swivels his head to glare at Keith incredulously. “Did you just _flick_ my _ear_?!”

Keith glared back. “You’re acting like me and it’s weird.”

“Wh– that– I cannot _believe_ – ... _Ugh_ .” Lance sputters, then groans as he rolls his eyes, facing the food on his plate again. He rubs his ear before picking up the spork again and taking a bite. And no – he is _not_ pouting. Not at all.

The silence drags on for about a minute before Keith breaks it. “I’m sorry.” 

Lance freezes and looks at him out of the corner of his eye. When he doesn’t say anything, Keith continues. 

“I– I didn’t mean for it to come off that way it did.”

The lanky teen sets down the plate with the spork on it, and sits up. He finally looks at Keith fully for a second time. “Then what _did_ you mean? Like, okay, I know I call us rivals and all, but we’re still teammates! I’ve never– I’d never be indifferent, or whatever, about you dying! Even if it’s rhetorical.”

“Neither would I,” admits Keith. “About you, I mean.”

Lance lets out a bitter laugh. “Oh, really? Then did I just imagine you basically saying you wouldn’t care if I had died back on Arus?”

“No! No, Lance, look I swear I didn’t mean for it to come out that way!”

“Then what the hell did you mean?!” Lance shouts. “Because I honestly thought we were getting closer, even with tour little fights.”

“Yeah, okay, we were! We are closer, which is why I’m trying to apologize!”

“Well you suck at it. _Congratulations_.”

Silence blankets over them once again. Lance turns to face forward again with his elbows on his knees and him in one hand. He wants to leave, walk away from Keith again and maybe avoid him until the morning, but he also wants to stay here with the stunning view. He also kinda wants to kick Keith out so he can have some alone time but considering the room isn’t exactly _his_ , Lance doesn’t. So, they sit in silence again. Now less awkward, but tense as ever. 

“...I would care if you died,” Keith speaks so quietly and hesitantly that Lance almost misses it. “I cared back on Arus, and I cared with the second bomb, and I care now. And– And what happened with Ulaz sucks, okay? But I can’t afford to get upset over every death that happens up here – that’s what I meant by what I said. I didn’t mean for it to come across as not caring about you. I’m sorry, Lance.”

A few seconds go by where Lance doesn’t say anything in reply. He pulls his knees to his chest and wraps his arms around them loosely, mind going over what Keith told him. Slowly, he sucks in a breath of air and let’s it out. “You’re actually making it hard to stay mad at you, for once,” Lance jests. Some of the tension between the two teens melts away with that, Keith giving a short, breathy chuckle. “I forgive you, by the way,” he adds, and once again looks at Keith, who’s somewhat taken back. “Unless Shiro, like, forced you to follow me and apologize and you don’t mean a word you just said, then fuck you.”

Keith shakes his head rapidly. “No, I swear I followed you without anyone telling me to. Also you needed the spork to eat.”

Lance cracks a smile. “You seem very adamant about me having a spork.”

The other’s shoulders lift in a small shrug. “Eating some weird space jell-o mac and cheese with your fingers seems a bit messy.”

His smile grows and he lets out a laugh. “I could always have eaten it like a dog.”

“Ugh, _gross_.”

“Hey, you don’t get to judge Mr. I-Lived-In-An-Abandoned-Shack for a year,” Lance retaliated. He throws his arms and hands in the air. “You probably didn’t even _have_ utensils!”

“I did! They were just...old.”

Lance blinks and then grimaces. “... _Please_ tell me you cleaned them before actually using them, because if not I might just puke.”

With a roll of his eyes, Keith groans out, “Oh my God, Lance, yes I cleaned them! I’m not a heathen.”

“Debatable.”

It’s then that Keith glowers and shoves his shoulder. It causes Lance to tilt to the side as he barks out laughter at the other’s reaction. The awkwardness and tense atmosphere has officially vanished. Everything’s back to normal between the two boys: harmless teasing and bickering, and suppressed fond expressions neither notice.

Keith doesn’t even leave when Lance finally picks up his plate again to actually finish eating. He just sits there, watching as the Castle drifts by the galaxy gradually at a snail’s pace. Or, that’s what Lance is doing as he eats, stuffing his mouth too full to actually speak, and he assumes Keith does the same because he isn’t saying anything either. Once he’s done, Lance sets the plate and spork a few feet away to the side and happily stargazes – ...galaxy-gazes? – as he leans back on his hands. It’s then that he catches a glimpse of Keith staring at him. Lance does a double take, cheeks rapidly warming. 

“What?” he asks.

Keith blinks rapidly, as if coming out of a daze, and shakes his head. “Huh– oh, uh, nothing.”

“....Okay,” Lance says slowly, eyeing Keith as the older teen faces forward so fast it might’ve broken his neck. Keith glances back at Lance once more before quickly diverting his gaze back to space. A fuzzy, warm feeling encompasses the brown skinned boy as he notices that Keith’s cheeks have darkened, heart beating rapidly. Lance abruptly sits up and scooches closer to Keith, smiling. “Let’s make up some constellations!”

The loudness of his voice startles Keith a bit, though he recovers quickly. He looks at Lance, brows lowered. “What? Allura’s got that Lion bond thing planned for later, we can’t stay away too long…” 

Lance waves a hand in the air dismissively. “That can wait. Besides, it’s already been, like, forty minutes. Dinner’s been over.” He raises an eyebrow. “Don’t tell me that _you_ , Keith Kogane, pilot of the impulsive Red Lion, rule defier, actually wants to follow orders from Princess Allura.”

Keith sends him an annoyed look but there’s no real heat behind it. It makes Lance smirk gleefully. “Fuck you. Alright, let’s make up constellations.”

“ _Yes_!” Lance shouts and moves even closer, one arm jutting out to point at a specific part in space. “Okay, so, look at the middle band right there – and there’s four stars in a perfect line a little away from the very edge of it…”

(And Lance’s sad, angry mood is _finally_ lifting into higher spirits. It’s still there – Allura’s words still causes a dull ache, and the insecurities lay under the surface just ready to make him feel terrible again at a moment’s notice – but much better than earlier. He will talk to Hunk, and maybe even Blue, later. Right now, he’s making up constellations with his crush. Right now, that’s enough to make him happier.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> keith: *enters the room ready to apologize only to see lance basically standing on a galaxy, surrounded by starlight*  
> lance: ????  
> keith: keith.exe has stopped working


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another Hunk and Lance talk, Keith accidentally interrupts, and no one in the Castle is probably getting the correct amount of sleep they need.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW: there’s implied/referenced past self-harm for a very short bit in the middle when lance is, once again, talking with hunk lmao. it’s not angsty at all, it’s actually about being clean for a while.

It’s around what, Lance guesses, one in the morning – boy, is he going to be glad when Pidge finally figures out this time thing – and in the Castle’s kitchen. While he sits on the counter with a plate of...something sweet and dessert-y that Hunk made, Blue lays on the floor below his feet, resting her eyes. Yellow, smaller in size for now, rests right beside her with her shoulders under Blue’s chin. Hunk leans against the counter across from Lance while he eats his own plate of dessert. Although Lance's eyes are fixated on nothing in particular as he quietly thinks to himself, Hunk stares his best friend down. It’s weird. Almost unnerving – Lance’s silence, not Hunk’s staring; the Blue Paladin hasn’t even _noticed_ yet.

It’s been like this since Lance finally popped up out of wherever he had been hiding at – and with _Keith_ , of all people. Keith, who Hunk knows for a fact Lance had been angry at for one reason or another, but at one in the morning they were walking side by side in a seemingly comfortable silence in the dimmed lights of the Castleship’s halls. That’s when Hunk dragged Lance off, stole him from Keith, and took him to the kitchen for the dessert he missed. 

(Hunk thinks now that he probably should have dragged Keith with them since they both missed it. Whoops.)

Whereas Hunk is utterly confused and trying to figure out if his best friend got switched with a clone during the time he _supposedly_ spent with Keith, Lance’s mind goes in circles around what happened in the observatory. Nothing special, not really. The two Paladins were still themselves in there; they bickered but there hadn’t been anything malicious about it. No real annoyance or anger. Just two bros, making up constellations in an observatory side by side, because they’re...ex-rivals. Of sorts. Friends? It’s not exactly clear to Lance at the moment, but he knows he can’t exactly call him and Keith rivals anymore. Seriously, at least. He’ll definitely bring it up for bouts of teasing. 

“So.”

Hunk’s voice startles Lance. He relaxes instantly yet still looks at Hunk with a slightly sheepish expression. “Um. Yes?”

Ever so slowly, Hunk’s eyes narrow. It makes Lance want to squirm. “Question.”

“Shoot.”

“What’s the deal with you and Keith today? Tonight?” Hunk asks. He sets his empty plate on the counter to gesture freely. “I mean, at dinner you were so freakin’ livid with him – anyone of us could see it! Like _way_ beyond your normal bickering and stuff. Then you leave after Allura did...all _that_...and Keith follows you with a spork, and _then_! And then I find you with him at what might be one in the morning, might not be, with both of you calm. I am thoroughly confused, my dude.”

And that’s the question, isn’t it? The question that’s been repeating over and over in his own head since they left the observatory. He didn’t imagine Keith staring at him after the apology, or the blush that followed when he got caught. It actually happened a few more times during the time they spent there together. The realization of that has his heart stuttering and willing himself not to blush.

And then his brain short circuits because what if he _is_ imagining all that stuff?

Lance freezes and stares, not knowing how to answer Hunk. He can explain things in detail, about his crush and the rivalry that’s honestly probably one-sided and his sexuality and the fight; or he can explain the bare minimum, exclude things that hint about a crush or feelings of any kind. Or, he can explain nothing at all and let Hunk suffer. Lance kind of wants to do all of the above, although impossible.

The thing is, the words explaining everything are on the tip of his tongue, starting with: _I’m bi and have a crush on my self-proclaimed rival_. 

But they never make it past his lips. It’s still too much.

A worried crease forms between Hunk’s brows when he takes too long to reply. “Lance? Buddy?”

“Oh, right, um,” Lance says quickly. He, too, sets his plate down and fiddles with his own hands, and shrugs. “It’s nothing – now, at least. We got... Well, we had communication issues. It caused a fight – _shocker_.” He pauses. “But then he apologized, so we’re good now. Talked it out.”

“Like, civilly?” Hunk, a bit skeptical, asks. In his mind, it’s one thing for Lance and Keith to argue and then later go on with their lives, with maybe Shiro nudging them to begrudgingly apologize over petty bickering. It’s another thing for the boys to actually get into a very serious argument and...be civil later on. Nothing is making sense in Hunk’s mind about the situation.

Lance squints and looks away from Hunk, tapping his chin. “Well… No, not at first, but he did apologize and it sounded genuine, so.” He shrugs. Looking back at Hunk, he can see his best friend is still trying to process it. 

Slowly, he nods. “Okay. Alright. So. I still have some questions.”

“ _Dios mío_ , Hunk–.”

“Like, are you two friends now? Still rivals? What was the fight about? And Keith followed you, so does that mean he willingly left to apologize? Because _wow_. Never thought that would happen, to be honest. And… Are you really okay? I know you put on a façade sometimes to try and not have me worry.”

Lance scoffs. “Oh, _please_ , we’re still rivals! One little talk doesn’t make us buddies.” Everything about the past few seconds are automatic. Denial, outward wise. Inward, he’s screaming. Hopefully Hunk doesn’t catch on.

Hunk nods sagely, although there’s something in his expression that Lance can’t quite read. “Of course.” 

“And I know you’re worried my self-esteem is gonna drop into the dumps again, and things are gonna get as bad as they were when we were fifteen and sixteen, but it’s… It won’t be that bad again.” Starting at two years ago (technically three) life had been bad for Lance mentally. The McClains lost a family member, and then another, and his insecurities were at an all time high; as were tensions within the family. It certainly didn’t help that school was being particularly stressful too. Luckily though, things eventually mellowed out. Became better to handle.

At least until the team found Blue. Hopefully things won’t get as bad for him as they once were. Hopefully his family isn’t spiraling without him.

“I know that, I really do, but you can’t promise that. And it’s not just the low self-esteem, Lance,” Hunk tells him. He moves to step closer, but he doesn’t get very far because their Lions are in the way and are too stubborn to move. “You got depressed. _Seriously_ depressed. And that doesn’t just go away, man, I mean you’ve had episodes before. You say you’re homesick sometimes but I know that’s a cover up for a depressive episode.”

His brows rise with shock. He hadn’t realized Hunk knew that. Instead of trying to deny it though, he gives in. “Okay, yeah, and you notice and help me through it without smothering me and I thank you for that, but I haven’t had one in a couple months,” Lance says. “And before you bring it up, I’m still clean. It’ll be a year on New Year’s Day.” He sent Hunk a proud smile, paired with finger guns, and Hunk quickly teared up as he always did when that’s mentioned and how far the lanky boy’s come in the past couple of years. But before Hunk can even remotely move forward despite the Lions and crush Lance in a hug, a choked, _“Oh,”_ makes everything freeze for a moment in time. 

Both Paladins turn their heads to the kitchen entrance. Keith’s standing there, half in half out. A panicked expression takes over his usually stoic, hard to read face. They all stare at one another in a somewhat tense silence until Keith finally stumbles out, “Sorry, oh God, I– I didn’t mean to, um, I was just… Dessert. I never, uh, got any. Sorry, again.”

“It’s,” begins Hunk but he stops himself. He looks at Lance, who’s eyes are slightly wide and the smile gone. 

Lance moves his eyes between the two of them. “Uh… It’s okay. How– How much of that did you hear?”

Keith almost hesitates. “Just what you said to Hunk.”

“Oh,” he squeaks out. 

It’s been a while since anyone’s found out. A few old friends at the Garrison know – not how bad, or why, but they do _know_ – as well as certain staff members for security and safety reasons. The only ones who know everything are his own immediate family members, Hunk, and Hunk’s moms. So with Keith accidentally walking in and hearing that is…nerve wracking, honestly. But also weird. Lance hadn’t been planning on telling him anything, and yet…

He then feels a comforting presence against his legs, and looks down quickly to see Blue leaning against him. It’s quickly put together in his mind that neither Hunk nor Keith can see Blue as another blanket of silence covers them, the boys glancing at one another.

Lance sighs and clears his throat, deciding to be the one to speak up. “It’s really okay, Mullet, chillax! Just don’t go spreading it to the others or Hunk’ll have to do some damage,” he jests. Although, there’s a hint of seriousness to it and Keith catches on. 

“Heh, yeah… I won’t tell anyone, I promise,” and it’s said so seriously even though Keith still looks so awkward that Lance believes him. It lifts off a bit of anxiety off of his chest about it. Keith opens his mouth, then closes it, thinking better of what came to mind just then.

“...Well,” Hunk startles the other two with a clap of his hands. “It’s, like, two in the morning or something, sooo… Goodnight! We’ll finish the talk later, bud.”

Lance nods. That’s a good idea: sleep, and also ending the conversation. They can’t be up all night and Lance needs to check on Hunk’s own mental health soon as well; Hunk’s been focused on him too much lately. “Alright. _Maguia le pō, uo._ ”

Hunk beams at hearing Samoan. “ _Buenas noches, amigo_ ,” he repeats back in Spanish. And at that, Hunk leaves with a half asleep Yellow, saying a quiet good night to Keith as well when he passes by.

“I’m sorry. Again,” Keith awkwardly gets out as Lance slides off the counter. “For walking in on your conversation.”

His shoulders move up and down. It’d be half hearted if the movement wasn’t so tense. “It’s… Gonna be honest, I don’t like that you heard it but it wasn’t intentional snooping, so I’m not mad.” Lance pauses with a small sigh, and then smiles at Keith, laughing a little. “Wow. This has been one _weird_ day.”

It takes a moment before the words sink in for Keith. Then, he’s chuckling. “Heh, that’s one way to describe it.”

It’s quiet again, and a Lance immediately gets an itch to quell it. This is too weird. Right? _Way_ too weird. One of them needs to speak up, or leave, or _something_.

“...Oh, hey, you came for dessert, right? It’s great, by the way. I mean, of course it is, Hunk made it! Anyway, it kinda tastes like M&Ms?” Lance begins to ramble as if on autopilot, putting his and Hunk’s dirty dishes away before searching for the sponge-like dessert. The familiarity of it finally has Keith walking in the rest of the way. The Red Paladin gets his own plate, and before he can even hand it over Lance grabs it, still going on about how amazing the dessert is. 

It’s safe to say they spent another hour civilly spending time together before they both realized they needed to head to bed.

+++

“Hey, _Azul_ , where’d I put that concealer last?”

_‘I might be your Lion but I am not your brain, cub.’_

Lance huffs, ready to whine, list all the reasons he needs to find the sweat and waterproof concealer _ASAP_ , and beg for Blue’s help – she’s just lounging on his bed like a...like a _cat_ – when he spots it on the bathroom counter right where he left it last time he used it. Lance grabs it with an excited, “Aha!” Instantly, he puts it on his rather prominent under eye bags from the previous night’s lack of sleep and then just beneath the crook of his elbows. The concealer shifts to his skin tone without any preamble. In a matter of seconds, Lance’s skin on his upper body is, once again, flawless. 

Except for the starburst scar on his back that he can’t reach. 

“Hey, Blue, who should I ask later to put that burn scar cream on–?”

_‘Keith.’_

Lance sputters. His hands fumble with the thankfully closed concealer container as he tries to regain his bearings. “Uh– _no_?! Nonono, _mi guapa_ , that is– that is the biggest, most wrong answer!”

She’s laughing. He can hear it and if he pokes his head out of the bathroom, he’d be able to see her shoulders moving. _‘What? You like him, correct?’_

“Wh– no! I mean… Wait, no!” He puts down the Altean concealer and exits. “No!”

 _‘No?’_ And she says it to him as if it’s a joke. She’s still laughing.

“No!” His voice goes up in pitch for probably the third time and cracks, arms flailing in the arm to emphasize his point.

She only laughs even more at him, and Lance groans dramatically. He stomps to his closet, grabs Altman sweat pants and that weird comfortable cotton-silk shirt but this time in a pretty peach color, and slips them on. He has no idea what they’re doing today, but he wants to be comfortable while doing it. At least until training. 

_‘What was last night, then?’_

“Last night was a weird disturbance in the Force – Earth pop culture reference thing – and probably won’t happen ever again! Everything will go back to normal today.”

She hums. _‘But you do not want it to, do you, my Paladin?’_

Blue knowing him so well is both a blessing and a curse. That, Lance is quickly learning. It’s like having Rachel and their weird, stereotypical Twin Thing where they just know how the other is feeling – but times ten.

After leaving the kitchen finally, Lance stayed up even longer to ramble and gossip to Blue in his room. She asked questions, he answered them, and he explained in full detail without any prompting about naming constellations with Keith. How he blushed a few times, and how they actually agreed with a few names but fought about others. He couldn’t really talk to Hunk about it just yet, so it felt nice to talk to Blue without having to really say anything else beforehand, especially when he started voicing the questions and self-doubt about the situation that he hid from Hunk. He talked for so long that he fell asleep mid-sentence.

But now it’s a new day. The high of everything that happened is fully, truly gone and Lance is left realizing that last night is probably something that won’t happen all too often. 

So he’s back denying certain... _things_ until further notice. 

Lance goes to finally respond to Blue, but a yell from the hall cuts him off before he can. The sound is quickly followed by a harsh thump, then a groan. Lance moves into action instantly. He grabs the bayard on his desk and runs out of his room, surveying the area for a threat–

“Oh. My god,” Lance blurts. 

Keith, on the floor, turns his head and glares. “Don’t you dare–.”

“Oh, my god,” he repeats, now on the verge of laughing. 

“Lance!”

“ _Oh my god_ ,” he wheezes and laughs. No, _cackles_. And Keith – _Keith_ , who is on the floor being sat on by _Red_ , who looks as proud as a house cat after catching a mouse – scowls. 

“She won’t fucking get up,” he growls.

“Ohmygod, this is– this is gold!” Lance bends over and laughs even more. 

“Get her off!”

That sobers him up a little. Not much, but enough to straighten again and actually look and realize how annoyed Keith seems to be at his current predicament. “Oh, no way, man. Red’s your Lion, and as much as I love pissing you off, I’d rather not piss off Red.” Abruptly, he gasps. 

Keith narrows his eyes suspiciously. “What are–?”

“I gotta get Pidge!”

“No! Lance!”

He races to Pidge’s door, but after excessive knocking and no annoyed answers, he runs down the hall to the dining room. He’s tempted to go to her lab first, but considering it’s morning time and Coran is adamant about everyone eating the most important meal of the day, he deems it better to head to the dining room. And he’s not disappointed. 

Lance bursts through the doors. He probably looks a bit manic, but that’s okay. “Pidge! You _gotta_ come see this.”

The still half asleep fifteen year old glares up from the food goo. 

“...What’s going on?” It’s Shiro who asks, looking both concerned and confused. 

Lance tries to get it out, he does, but he falls into another fit of laughter that doesn’t allow him to do so. Finally, he merely goes with, “Keith,” and Pidge perks up. 

“...Okay, yeah, I’m coming.”

Within moments Pidge is out of her seat. Sluggish yet determined to see what has Lance in stitches laughing so much, she follows her older teammate. Neither of them notice how Shiro follows, or how the Alteans do the same out of curiosity.

When they get back to Keith and Red, Hunk is standing over them, clad in yellow pajamas and the lion slippers to match. As he gets closer, Lance can see that his buddy is just dazed and confused, absolutely dumbfounded, by what he found. Lance loses it again at that point. It startles Hunk. He reacts well though, allows Lance to merely lean on him for support. By now, Red is full on laying on top of Keith. She’s refusing to get up and with each shove she gets, she settles more weight. 

It doesn’t take long for Pidge to start laughing as well. Shiro looks highly amused, probably filing this somewhere away in his memory to bring up later so he can embarrass Keith somehow. Allura is trying not to laugh, and Coran smirks at the scene before up, twisting his mustache.

Keith glowers up at Lance. “Thought you said you were getting Pidge,” he questions through clenched teeth. 

“I did!” He smirks.

He groans, and Lance begins laughing again yet this time he tries to control it.

Hunk sighs. “Dude, how much sleep did you get last night?”

“Uhhh. Two-ish hours? Maybe less.”

“ _Lance_ ,” he admonishes, as does Shiro in the same tone at the same time.

“Why were you up so late?” 

Lance freezes at that. “Well.”

Shiro shakes his head. “Don’t get me wrong, after last night’s dinner it’s good to see you like this, but you can’t always stay up as late as you want.”

“We talked,” Keith speaks up for him from the floor. “We had a fight, it was _my_ fault–,” no one misses how his gaze moved to Allura before it quickly shifts away, “–and I went to apologize. We ended up talking a lot longer than either of us anticipated.”

“I also talked with Lance,” Hunk says. “I wanted to check up on him, and give him the dessert he missed, so. Yeah.”

“I also decided to bond with Blue a bit. It wasn’t that I wanted to stay up so late, it’s just that it…happened,” Lance finally has a chance to speak for himself. Rambling about naming constellations with his crush can be counted as bonding with his Lion, right? 

Shiro seems surprised, to say the least. Lance knows he’d probably been expecting that he had been playing Killbot Phantasm or something – not being serious and goofing off, as expected of him.

“You didn’t just stay up late though. Seriously, you only got two hours,” Pidge points out. 

“Like you’re one to talk, resident night owl,” Lance quickly retaliates with.

Pidge lifts her arm to flip him off but Shiro grabs it and lowers it before it can happen. He ignores her pout as he says, “Well I’m glad you and Keith talked some things out, Lance. I’m proud of you both, that’s a mature way to handle those types of things. Just don’t make it a habit of staying up so late. That includes you, Pidge.”

She rolls her eyes. “Yes, _Dad_.”

“Hey, after I spent time with Keith I was gonna go to bed, but then Hunk bribed me with sweets!”

Hunk dramatically gasps. “I thought you agreed because you love me!”

Lance takes a pause and smacks his lips. “Yeah, about that–.”

“Lance!”

And then he’s laughing again, and Hunk quickly joins.

“Bribed or not, I do believe it’d be best if Lance goes back to bed,” Coran says the moment the laughter begins to peter out. “Yesterday was tense for everyone and if it’s alright with Number One, I suggest you postpone whatever pre-made training plans for this morning. Not just for Lance, but for everyone.”

“We cannot keep taking days of rest, Coran,” Allura argues. 

“I understand, my dear, but unless you want Lance’s performance for today to be mediocre at best, I suggest that you let him go back to sleep. Pidge too. And it will be a good time for Red and Keith to bond some more. It does not have to be a full day, but enough for certain sleep deprived Paladins to be more functional.”

“Coran has a point, Princess. As much as I’d like to go ahead and start our day after breakfast, it’ll be best if we let whoever stayed up too late catch a few more hours,” agrees Shiro. 

“So all of us,” Keith states from where he’s  _ still _ stuck under Red. 

Shiro purses his lips and nods. “You four, at least.” He motions to the teenagers, and then to the Princess. “You too. The mice mimed to me that you need more sleep.”

Allura gapes at them, then her eyes turn to where the mice are standing near the hallway wall. She mutters something in Altean at them. “Triators,” if Lance has to guess. The mice don’t seem guilty in the slightest. She looks back to everyone and reluctantly sighs. “I suppose we can do that. Although I’m not sure we have a choice in the matter, anyway.”

“Then it’s settled!” shouts Coran. “Catch up on your sleeps, dear younglings! Eat breakfast first if you’d like, and if you can’t sleep, do something relaxing. Now, off you all go!” Everyone begins to disperse. Shiro sticks with Allura for the time being to make sure she actually goes to her room, and Pidge mumbles something about finishing her breakfast as Hunk and Lance walk away. Coran’s eyes travel back to the floor. “Well, Number Four, I suppose you’re stuck there until further notice.”

Keith sighs through his nose. “Great,” he drawls. “Just what I wanted.”

Coran smiles, mirth shining in his aged eyes. “Shout if you need anything!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Samoan) Maguia le pō, uo / (Spanish) Buenas noches, amigo — Good night, buddy.  
> mi guapa — my beautiful 
> 
> idk why but i’m very self conscious about this chap?? so sorry if it isn’t that good or if it seems rushed in any way. it’s been a rough couple of weeks for me (my grandpa passed away & it’s been rough on everyone) and i just really wanted to crank this one out before it could collect too much dust in google docs haha
> 
> oooh fun fact, i was expecting this fic to be 3, maybe 4 chapters?? but then Serious Talks With Hunk kept happening, as did me setting things up for future fics in this series. and now here are at chapter 6 lollll
> 
> speaking of, this most likely has either 2 or 3 more chapters depending on if my brain decides to add anything or not!!
> 
> (also if u wanna u can check out my tumblr at derryhawkins!! i dont post any vld & it’s a mess there but feel free to talk to me about this fic/the series if u feel inclined to!)


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